CS  71  . H64  1923 

Hill,  Charles  E.  1848-1917. 

Ebenezer  Hill 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


y 


https://archive.org/details/ebenezerhilllittOOhill 


Reproduced  from  a  steel  engraving  in  the  “  Memoir  of  the  Rev. 
Lbenezer  Hill,”  which  was  copied  from  an  oil  portrait. 


/ 

EBENEZER  HILL: 


THE  LITTLE  MINISTER 
OF  MASON,  N.  H. 


A  SKETCH 

By  CHARLES  E.  VHILL 

and 

A  GENEALOGY 

By  JOHN  B.  HILL 


TOBIAS  A.  WRIGHT 
PRINTER  AND  PUBLISHER 
i$o  Bleecker  Street,  New  York 

1  9  2  3 


INTRODUCTION 


CHARLES  E.  HILL,  my  brother,  was  forced  by  ill  health 
to  give  up  his  law  practice  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and 
retire  to  the  home  of  his  boyhood  in  Temple,  N.  H.,  where 
he  remained  until  his  death.  In  that  home  was  a  mass  of 
family  letters  and  documents  brought  from  the  residence  of 
the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hill,  in  Mason.  Upon  examining  these, 
my  brother  found  so  much  of  interest  to  the  descendants  of 
the  Little  Minister,  and  so  much  of  value  to  anyone  who 
would  learn  the  intimate  life  of  a  clergyman  in  a  little  New 
England  town  a  hundred  years  ago,  that  he  compiled  from 
them  the  Sketch  which  is  now  put  into  print. 

The  Notes  on  the  Descendants  of  Ebenezer  Hill,  given 
as  a  supplement  to  this  Sketch  were  prepared  by  my  cousin, 
the  Rev.  John  B.  Hill,  D.D.,  of  Queens,  N.  Y.  He  has  also 
carefully  traced  out  the  ancestors  of  Mr.  Hill  and  his  three 
wives;  but  there  was  not  space  in  this  volume  to  publish  these 
lists.  He  will  be  pleased,  however,  to  furnish  information 
concerning  these  ancestors  to  any  who  so  desire. 

My  hope  is  that  this  little  book  will  not  only  preserve  the 
memory  of  a  most  worthy  servant  of  Christ,  but  also  help  to 
hold  together  in  the  bonds  of  kinship  his  numerous  and  wide¬ 
ly  scattered  descendants. 

William  Bancroft  Hill. 

Vassar  College, 

Poughkeepsie, 

New  York. 


FOREWORD 


I  propose  to  write  something  of  the  life  of  our  ancestor, 
Ebenezer  Hill,  and  of  his  family,  while  they  were  in  the  old 
home  at  Mason.  His  Memoir,  written  by  his  sons,  has  been 
published  and  the  History  of  Mason  contains  much  that 
is  descriptive  of  his  public  life;  but  biographies  and  memorial 
tributes  are  not  always  produced  with  the  accuracy  of  a 
photograph.  There  is  a  tendency,  not  to  be  condemned  per¬ 
haps,  to  make  a  hero  of  the  subject,  and  to  narrate  only  those 
things  that  are  attractive  to  the  public.  Many  things  that  I 
have  learned  from  old  letters  and  papers,  and  that  to  me  are 
very  interesting,  would  hardly  find  a  place  in  a  history  de¬ 
signed  for  the  public.  Thinking  that  some  of  his  descendants, 
now  or  at  some  time  hereafter,  may  desire  to  know  more  than 
the  published  records  disclose  of  the  real  life  of  their  ancestor 
and  of  his  home  life,  I  have  determined  to  write  out  what  I 
have  learned,  so  that  it  may  be  preserved  when  the  sources 
from  which  my  information  came  are  gone. 

Charles  E.  Hill. 


Temple,  N.  H., 

1916. 


EBENEZER  HILL: 

THE  LITTLE  MINISTER  OF  MASON 

A  Sketch  by  his  Grandson,  CHARLES  EBENEZER  HILL 


HPHROUGHOUT  the  countryside  he  was  known  as  “The 

Little  Minister  of  Mason.”  Barely  five  feet  in  stature,  but 
of  perfect  proportions,  with  delicate,  clean-shaven  features, 
firm  lips,  quick  eyes, — neat,  sprightly,  genial — he  was  fitted 
to  win  favor.  The  fact  that  two  churches  eagerly  contended 
to  secure  his  services  (Mason  and  Marlboro),  while  a  third 
(Ashby)  withdrew  from  the  contest  as  hopeless,  and  that 
within  ten  years  he  was  able  to  win  in  marriage  three  estimable 
ladies,  proves  that  the  Little  Minister  was  attractive. 

He  first  came  to  Mason  when  he  was  twenty-three  years 
of  age  (born  Jan.  31,  1766).  He  fitted  for  college  in  Cam¬ 
bridge  Grammar  School,  under  the  instruction,  in  part,  of 
the  Rev.  Aaron  Bancroft,  D.D.,  of  Worcester,  father  of  George 
Bancroft,  the  historian.  In  the  spring  of  1786,  after  passing 
through  the  regular  four  years  course  (admitted  July  13, 
1782),  he  had  received  at  Harvard  College  the  degree  of  A.B. 
The  following  autumn  he  began  teaching  in  Westford,  Mass., 
and  through  the  next  two  years  continued  his  pedagogical 
work  in  that  town.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  successful 
teacher,  and  by  at  least  one  of  his  pupils  was  long  remem¬ 
bered.*  While  in  Westford  he  seems  to  have  been  successful 
also  in  winning  the  heart  of  Mary  Boynton,  and  doubtless 
there  planned  with  her  the  union  that  took  place  in  1791. 

It  was  while  he  was  at  Westford  that  he  announced  his 
determination  to  become  a  minister  and  probably  he  began 
while  there  the  study  of  theology.  It  was  an  ambitious  choice, 


♦See  correspondence  published  in  his  Memoir,  pp.  15-18. 


6 


Ebenezer  Hill 


for  at  that  day  the  New  England  clergy  were  the  ruling  class 
in  public  life,  and  the  most  revered  and  influential  in  society. 
It  does  not  seem  that  he  waited  for  any  recognized  “call”  to 
the  gospel  ministry.  He  made  his  election  first,  and  sought 
the  call  later.  At  that  time  he  was  not  even  a  church  member. 
There  were  then  no  professional  schools;  the  would-be  lawyer 
entered  the  office  of  some  attorney, — the  more  eminent  the 
better — and  there  read  law  until  he  was  ready  for  admission 
to  the  bar.  So  the  student  of  medicine  pursued  his  studies 
with  some  practicing  physician,  and  the  aspirant  for  the  min¬ 
istry  usually  submitted  himself  to  some  eminent  preacher, 
under  whose  direction,  and  frequently  in  whose  family,  he 
pursued  his  theological  studies. 

A  noted  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Seth  Payson,  was  then 
settled  at  Rindge,  N.  H.,  and  to  him  the  young  man  applied. 
He  was  accepted,  and  in  August,  1788,  was  received  as  a 
student  in  the  family  of  that  learned  divine.  As  I  have  writ¬ 
ten  he  probably  began  his  theological  studies  while  in  West- 
ford.  He  certainly  made  rapid  progress  after  he  joined  the 
minister’s  family  in  Rindge.  The  next  month  he  was  received 
into  the  church  on  profession  of  faith  and  the  following  month, 
at  Ashburnham,  Mass.,  before  an  Association  of  ministers 
there  assembled,  he  was  examined  as  to  his  “moral  character, 
ministerial  furniture,  and  views  in  undertaking  ye  work” ; 
and  the  said  Association  being  “unanimously  satisfied”,  he 
was  duly  licensed  and  began  preaching  without  delay.  His 
first  efforts  were  made  in  the  pulpit  of  his  preceptor,  Dr.  Pay- 
son,  but  he  was  soon  invited  to  preach  as  a  candidate  at  Ash¬ 
by,  at  Marlboro,  and  in  March,  1789,  at  Mason.  In  that  day 
no  country  town  had  more  than  one  church ;  and,  while  the 
church  usually  made  the  selection,  it  was  the  business  of 
the  town  to  give  the  “call”,  make  the  contract,  and  pay  the 
settlement  and  the  salary  in  accordance  with  that  contract. 
The  town  owned  the  church  building,  and  the  expense  of 
maintaining  church  services,  including  the  settlement  (a  pro¬ 
vision  made  on  settling  a  minister,  in  order  to  enable  him  to 
procure  a  house)  and  the  salary,  were  part  of  the  town’s  ex¬ 
penses,  provided  for  by  taxes  levied  on  all  the  polls  and  tax¬ 
able  property. 


The  Little  Minister 


7 


The  Town  Records  disclose  the  proceedings,  all  regularly 
voted  in  town  meeting,  duly  called  and  warned.  The  records 
of  the  Town  of  Marlboro  show  that  that  town  offered  the 
young  candidate — we  quote  from  the  Town  Records — “One 
hundred  and  sixty  pounds  settlement,  sixty  pounds  to  be 
paid  in  specie,  one-half  of  which  is  to  be  paid  three  months 
after  his  ordination,  the  other  half  to  be  paid  in  nine  months; 
the  one  hundred  pounds  to  be  paid  in  beef  cattle — equal  to 
beef  at  twenty  shillings  per  hundred,  or  other  neat  stock 
equivalent;  also  to  pay  him  a  salary  of  sixty  pounds  for  the 
first  year,  and  to  add  twenty  shillings  a  year  until  it  arrive 
at  the  sum  of  sixty-eight  pounds ;  also  thirty  cords  of  wood, 
delivered  at  his  house — the  salary  and  the  wood  to  be  paid 
annually.” 

The  Town  of  Mason  offered  him  “One  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  settlement,  one-half  to  be  paid  in  money,  the  other 
half  in  neat  stock  or  farm  produce;  one-half  in  one  year  after 
his  ordination,  and  the  other  half  in  the  next  year  following” ; 
and  as  salary  “sixty-six  pounds,  thirteen  shillings  and  four  pence 
yearly.”  Three  months  later — the  town  doubtless  having 
learned  of  the  Marlboro  proposition — at  a  meeting  duly  called, 
voted  “to  provide  thirty  cords  of  wood  yearly  for  Mr.  Hill, 
so  long  as  the  town  can  procure  the  same  without  a  tax; 
and,  if  that  measure  should  ever  fail  of  providing  said  thirty 
cords  of  wood  as  above,  then  the  town  will  add  to  his  salary  so 
much  as  to  make  it  seventy-five  pounds  lawful  money  yearly 
during  his  ministry  in  said  town.” 

The  settlement  and  salary  offered  by  these  towns  was  in 
amount  about  the  same  as  was  in  that  day  paid  in  all  the 
country  towns  of  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts;  and 
in  purchasing  power  was  probably  fully  equal  to  the  salaries 
paid  in  the  same  towns  at  the  present  day.  Beef — doubtless 
on  the  hoof — was,  in  the  Marlboro  proposition,  valued  at 
twenty  shillings  a  hundred, — and  the  twenty  shillings  a  hun¬ 
dred  then  would  buy  as  much  beef  as  ten  dollars  of  today.* 
Then  there  were  the  thirty  cords  of  wood,  that  seem  by  the 
Mason  proposition  to  have  been  equivalent  to  eight  pounds, 


♦This  was  written  before  the  World  War. 


8 


Ebenezer  Hill 


six  shillings,  eight  pence,  so  that  the  salary  would  be  about 
equal  to  a  salary  of  seven  hundred  dollars  at  the  present  time. 

Of  the  two  proposals,  the  Marlboro  proposition  seems  the 
better;  but,  with  both  before  him,  the  candidate  writes  to  a 
friend :  “I  have  tried  to  think  it  was  my  duty  to  settle  at 
Marlboro,  but  it  appears  quite  plain  to  me  that  Providence 
has  pointed  out  Mason  as  the  place.  I  never  saw  such  an 
union  and  such  engagedness  as  is  apparent  in  this  place. 
What  their  motives  are,  I  am  unable  to  say,  but  trust,  with 
regard  to  the  greater  part,  they  are  gospel  motives,  and  upon 
the  whole  I  dare  not  deny  them.”  To  both  the  town  and  the 
candidate,  this  settlement  was  a  serious  and  important  mat¬ 
ter,  for  it  was  understood  that  the  engagement  was  to  be 
for  life,  and  I  am  not  surprised  that  the  decision  was  made 
only  after  long  and  earnest  deliberation.  Sometime  in  July 
or  August,  1790,  the  Little  Minister  made  answer,  declining 
Marlboro  and  accepting  Mason. 

What  was  this  town,  the  “union  and  engagedness”  of 
which  were  successfully  attractive?  Forty  years  before,  it 
was  an  unbroken  wilderness,  without  a  single  inhabitant.  In 
1790  there  were  about  one  hundred  and  ten  houses  scattered 
over  the  town,  the  most  of  them  miserably  poor.  Only  one 
house  had  any  outside  paint,  and  only  three  rooms  in  the 
town  were  papered.  There  was  not  a  wheel  carriage  or  a  sin¬ 
gle  sleigh.  Whole  families  came  to  church  on  an  oxcart  or 
sled.  Travel  was  generally  on  foot  or  on  horseback.  It  was 
the  day  of  the  pillion,  “a  comfortable  and  commodious  seat,” 
says  our  Minister;  and  it  was  no  strange  thing  to  see  a  single 
horse  carrying  on  his  back  a  man  and  woman  and  one  or 
two  small  children.  The  Minister  on  his  candidating  journeys 
probably  rode  on  horseback,  with  a  fair  supply  of  spotless 
linen  and  Calvinistic  sermons  in  his  saddlebags. 

The  early  settlers  of  Mason  had  attempted  to  build  a 
church,  located  as  the  custom  then  was  on  one  of  the  highest 
hilltops.  They  had  erected  the  frame,  boarded  it  in,  put  on 
doors  and  windows,  and  there  it  stood,  a  mere  shell,  until 
it  was  too  much  dilapidated  to  be  worth  completing,  but  in 
it  our  Minister  preached  in  the  beginning.  The  population 
of  the  town  was  then  about  six  hundred,  but  the  church  had 


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In  a  volume  of  some  1  40  pa$es,  foolscap  size,  bound  in  calf,  Lbenezer  H.U  ^ote  out  h.s  full  cours|  o  ^math' emat.cs 
in  Harvard  College.  Among  its  page  head.ngs  are  many  not  common  today^ such  as.  The  Single  K5U‘®  °  d  1  g  t' 
Double  Rule  of  Three,  Practice,  Vulgar  Fractions,  Fellowship,  Barter,  Loss  and  Ga  n,  Tare  and  Iret,  ^ursolid  kooi. 
Double  Position,  Dialling,  etc.  There  are  many  neat  drawings,  especially  under  Dialling. 


The  Little  Minister 


9 


only  thirty-six  members.  Some  of  these  had  joined  by  let¬ 
ter,  others  by  profession  of  faith,  while  others  only  “owned 
the  covenant” ;  but  they  were  a  serious-minded  people,  and 
they  had  set  about  erecting  a  new  church  to  take  the  place 
of  the  old  shell.  They  had  advanced  it  so  far  that,  on  the 
third  of  November,  1790,  the  Little  Minister  was  ordained 
therein.  For  forty-seven  years  he  will  preach  in  that  church, 
and  then,  in  a  farewell  sermon,  when  his  people  are  ready 
to  move  into  a  new  building,  he  will  call  the  pulpit  of  the 
old  house  “the  dearest  spot  on  earth  to  me.” 

That  ordination  in  1790  was  a  great  event  for  the  town, 
and  was  long  remembered.*  Seven  learned  divines  from  the 
neighboring  towns  were  invited  to  constitute  the  Council, 
by  whom  the  solemn  ceremonies,  occupying  two  days,  were 
conducted.  The  town  voted  to  pay  the  tavern-keeper  for  the 
entertainment  of  the  Council,  together  with  “all  other  gentle¬ 
men  of  the  clergy,  and  Mr.  Hill’s  relatives  and  friends”.  I 
wonder  who  of  his  relatives  were  there.  Probably  the  father 
and  mother  came  up  from  Cambridge,  and  his  only  brother 
Samuel  may  have  come  down  from  his  home  in  Goshen,  Ver¬ 
mont.  The  family  was  small ;  but  they  were  bound  together 
by  strong  ties  of  affection.  In  accordance  with  a  cherished 
plan  that  they  would  all  reside  in  the  same  town,  as  soon  as 
Ebenezer  was  settled  in  Mason,  the  others  followed  him, 
and  spent  the  balance  of  their  lives  near  him. 

There  were  no  other  relatives,  but  at  that  ordination,  I 
wonder  if  Mary  Boynton  came  up  from  Westford,  as  one  of 
the  friends.  I  do  not  know  who  came,  but  I  am  sure  his 
mother  was  there ;  and  I  think  that  (in  spite  of  the  surround¬ 
ing  atmosphere  of  Calvinistic  Puritanism,  which  sought  to 
repress  and  wither  every  human  instinct  and  emotion),  the 
heart  of  that  mother  must  have  glowed  with  pride  when  she 
saw  that  boy — her  boy,  for  whom  she  had  done  and  suffered 
so  much — stand  in  that  solemn  conclave,  the  center  of  all 
eyes,  and  receive  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  the  solemn 
charge,  the  consecrating  prayer  and  the  final  benediction,  that 


*A  full  account,  as  taken  from  the  records,  is  contained  in  the 
History  of  Mason,  pp.  117-119. 


10 


Ebenezer  Hill 


marked  his  induction  into  the  most  dignified  and  influential 
office  that  the  town  could  bestow.  He  was  then  nearly  twen¬ 
ty-five  years  of  age. 

To  commemorate  the  great  event  of  an  ordination  in 
town,  three  elm  trees  were  planted  on  the  Town  Common. 
Years  after,  at  a  time  when  the  militaristic  spirit  ran  high, 
one  of  them  was  cut  down  because  it  interfered  with  the 
movements  of  the  soldiers  in  their  drill.  The  other  two 
have  grown  high  toward  heaven,  and  remain  as  stately  mon¬ 
uments  of  a  day  and  event  long  past. 

Thus  the  Little  Minister  came  to  Mason,  and  having  thus 
been  duly  installed  as  shepherd  of  the  public  flock,  it  became 
him  next  to  prepare  for  his  private  flock.  To  that  end  he 
must  have  a  wife  and  a  house.  In  this  as  in  all  other  matters 
he  was  prompt  and  active.  Three  months  after  his  ordination, 
his  friend  the  Rev.  Samuel  Dix,  minister  at  Townsend,  per¬ 
formed  the  marriage  ceremony  (Feb.  2,  1791)  uniting  Eben¬ 
ezer  Hill  of  Mason  to  Mary  Boynton,  of  Westford.  In  age 
she  was  about  ten  months  his  senior.  This,  the  Little  Min¬ 
ister’s  first  marriage,  is  believed  to  have  been  purely  a  love 
match.  We  can  hardly  say,  however,  that  “Love  greased  his 
chariot  wheels”,  for  the  bride  was  probably  brought  to  town 
on  an  ox-sled.  It  was  either  that  or  on  horseback.  I  prefer 
to  think  it  was  on  horseback,  the  minister  in  the  saddle,  and 
the  bride  on  the  pillion,  with  one  arm  around  her  lord,  to 
steady  and  secure  her  position. 

Having  thus  secured  the  mistress,  he  must  next  secure 
the  manse.  The  little  farm  of  the  old  Scotchman,  Capt.  Wil¬ 
liam  Chambers,*  was  for  sale.  The  house  was  very  small,  one 
of  the  oldest  in  town.  It  was  neither  papered  nor  painted,  and 
contained  only  two  small  rooms  and  an  attic.  The  land  was 
fertile,  though  very  rocky.  It  was  conveniently  located  near 
the  church.  His  mother  could  come  and  live  with  them. 
They  were  courageous  and  hopeful,  and  thought  the  house 
was  big  enough  for  three, — so  the  next  month  after  his  mar- 


*Capt.  Chambers  came  to  Mason  in  1775.  During  the  Revolution, 
he  was  a  Lieutenant  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  on  board  a  privateer  com¬ 
manded  by  Capt.  Manly. 


The  Little  Minister 


i  i 

riage  he  bought  the  Chambers  farm.  How  he  paid  for  it  I 
do  not  know.  Perhaps  the  settlement  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  that  he  was  to  receive  from  the  town  was  suf¬ 
ficient  for  the  purchase.  This  house  stood  a  few  feet  to  the 
northwest  of  the  present  mansion.  After  the  latter  was  built 
in  1800,  the  old  house  was  moved  to  the  south  of  the  mansion 
and  located  between  it  and  the  barn.  There  it  was  used  as  a 
tool  shop,  and  stood  for  more  than  sixty  years.  It  was  then 
again  moved,  and  was  attached  to  the  house  now  standing 
on  the  north  side  of  the  old  garden,  occupied  by  the  Thomsons. 

After  Ebenezer  Hill  purchased  the  Chambers  farm,  his 
brother  Samuel  moved  from  Vermont  to  Mason,  and  settled 
at  the  foot  of  the  Darling  Hill  where  he  remained  until  his 
death  in  1813.  Samuel,  Jr.,  took  his  father  to  live  with  him, 
but  the  mother  remained  with  her  favorite  son  Ebenezer. 

Thus  the  Little  Minister  began  life  in  the  little  manse, 
and  there  began  to  accumulate  his  private  flock.  On  the  first 
day  of  October,  1791,  the  first  child  was  born,  a  boy,  named 
after  his  father,  and  perhaps  also  after  his  grandfather  Eben¬ 
ezer  Cutler.  Ebenezer  was  a  favorite  name  in  New  England, 
and  particularly  in  the  Hill  family.  Doubtless  the  young  father 
regarded  that  firstborn  son  with  as  much  pride  and  affection 
as  was  permissible  for  a  New  England  clergyman  of  that  date 
to  have  for  any  carnal  object;  but,  fifteen  months  later,  there 
was  another  addition  to  the  flock — and  this  time  twins.  The 
little  house  designed  for  three  now  held  six.  The  burdens 
were  coming  thick  and  fast,  but  it  is  said  that  in  performing 
the  marriage  ceremony  our  Minister  always  admonished  the 
young  couple  by  quoting  Genesis  1:28.  We  may  be  sure  he 
gave  thanks  when  he  was  told  that  two  daughters  were  born 
to  him.  They  named  them  Sally  and  Polly  (perhaps  Sally 
for  the  grandmother  Sarah  Cutler,  and  Polly  for  the  mother 
Mary  Boynton,  the  names  Sarah  and  Sally  being  considered 
the  same,  and  Polly  and  Mary  interchanged  at  will). 

I  think  that  Mary  Boynton  must  have  been  of  small 
stature — at  any  rate  all  of  her  children  were.  Each  of  them 
lived  through  many  hardships  to  attain  a  good  old  age,  but 
the  rigors  of  a  New  England  climate,  and  the  care  of  those 
three  infants,  were  too  much  for  the  mother.  Fourteen 


12 


Ebenezer  Hill 


months  after  the  birth  of  the  twins,  the  Little  Minister  recorded 
in  his  registry  of  deaths :  “March  2d,  1794,  Polly,  wife  of 
Ebenezer  Hill,  aged  29  years. ”*  This  was  his  first  bereave¬ 
ment.  He  had  never  before  met  the  death  of  anyone  nearly 
connected.  There  was  doubtless  a  great  funeral  in  the  new 
meeting-house,  and  a  sermon  appropriate  to  the  occasion  by 
one  of  the  neighboring  ministers,  probably  Samuel  Dix. 

There  were  many  strong  bonds  of  affection  between  those 
early  ministers ;  and  whenever  affliction  came  upon  one  of 
their  number,  they  hastened  to  comfort  and  console.  Our 
Little  Minister  was  by  many  years  the  youngest  of  the  preach¬ 
ers  in  that  locality,  and  I  think  he  was  a  favorite  among  the 
brethren.  The  Rev.  Samuel  Dix,  of  Townsend,  was  an  espe¬ 
cial  friend.  The  historian  of  Townsend,  writing  of  him, 
says :  “Mr.  Dix  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  Rev.  Eben¬ 
ezer  Hill,  of  Mason,  New  Hampshire,  who,  at  his  own  ex¬ 
pense,  caused  two  or  three  of  his  (Mr.  Dix’s)  addresses  to 
be  printed  as  exemplars  of  eloquence  as  well  as  piety.”  Mr. 
Dix,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  introduced  and  recommended 
Mr.  Hill  to  the  church  at  Mason ;  he  gave  him  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  at  his  ordination ;  he  married  him  to  Mary 
Boynton ;  and  I  feel  sure  that  he  preached  her  funeral  ser¬ 
mon.  However  that  may  have  been,  I  think  the  brethren  of 
the  ministry  did  something  more  than  console  and  comfort. 
There  was  imperative  need  for  another  mistress  of  the  manse, 
and  they  cast  about  to  find  someone  fit  to  be  ennobled  to  the 
position  of  the  Minister’s  wife.  The  time  for  sentiment  was 
past,  pious  sense  was  now  required. 

Once,  when  rummaging  among  the  old  relics  stored  in 
the  attic  at  Mason,  I  found  a  small  leather  packet,  that  had 
originally  been  covered  with  silk  and  embroidery,  but  was 
then  crumbling  in  decay.  Inside  were  some  trinkets  and  a 
few  folded  papers,  closely  written  over.  The  writing  was 


♦This  and  other  family  records  quoted  in  these  pages  are  more 
fully  given  in  a  “Copy  of  a  record  on  a  loose  sheet  in  my  father's 
handwriting,  made  by  J.  B.  Hill,  October  23,  1878: — March  2,  1794, 
Polly,  the  wife  of  Ebenezer  Hill,  departed  this  life  at  ten  minutes 
before  10  o’clock  in  the  evening.  She  wanted  24  days  of  being  29 
years  old.” 


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A  sample  sermon  manuscript,  showing  the  L.ittle  Minister’s  characteristic  neatness, 
and  a  few  of  his  abbreviations  and  arbitrary  word-signs. 


The  Little  Minister 


13 


faded  and  illegible  on  all  but  a  part  of  one  sheet,  where  it  had 
been  so  folded  that  the  lines  were  better  preserved.  There 
I  traced  the  neat,  clear  penmanship  of  our  Little  Minister, 
as  follows: 

“Mason,  June,  1795. 

My  dear  Becky :  (if  I  may  be  allowed  to  address 
you  by  that  name,  which  liberty  I  wish  for.) 

I  must  own  to  a  pleasure  in  your  company  which 
I  have  not  lately  found  in  any  other  person’s;  and, 
different  from  what  happens  in  many  other  cases, 
the  reflection  pleases.  I  was  led  to  seek  an  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  you  from  the  character  given  of  you  by 
persons  whose  judgment  I  esteem,  but  the  greatest 
fear  I  now  have  .  .  . 

Alas !  here  the  legible  portion  ended.  There  was  nothing 
more  on  that  little  page.  That  pathetic,  old  packet,  when 
it  was  fresh  and  new,  belonged  to  the  young  widow,  Rebecca 
Howard  (then  23  years  old),  the  daughter  of  Col.  Ebenezer 
Bancroft,  of  Dunstable  (now  Tyngsboro),  Mass. 

How  did  the  acquaintance  begin?  I  think  it  was  the  faith¬ 
ful  friend,  Samuel  Dix,  of  Townsend,  not  far  from  Dunstable, 
who  selected  Becky  as  the  character  needed,  and  brought  the 
Rev.  Ebenezer  into  the  pleasing  company  of  the  young  widow. 
At  any  rate,  whatever  fear  the  Little  Minister  had  in  paying 
his  addresses  must  have  been  groundless,  for  about  five 
months  later  Rebecca  (Bancroft)  Howard  became  the  mis¬ 
tress  of  the  little  manse  and  the  little  ones  it  contained.  Who 
married  them,  or  where  they  were  married,  I  do  not  know: 
perhaps  the  records  of  Old  Dunstable  would  disclose.* 

Eight  days  after  the  wedding,  the  new  meeting-house, 
in  which  five  years  before  the  ordination  services  were  held, 
was  dedicated.  Our  Minister  preached  a  long  sermon,  from 


*Mr.  Hill’s  private  record  says:  “November  18,  1795.  Ebenezer  Hill 
and  Rebecca  Howard  were  joined  in  marriage  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kid¬ 
der,  of  Dunstable.  Dec.  23,  1795,  Mrs.  Hill  removed  home.”  This 
was  not  an  elopement;  but,  on  account  of  the  recent  bereavements 
of  both  bride  and  groom,  they  preferred  to  be  married  quietly  away 
from  home,  leaving  her  pastor  to  announce  the  marriage  on  his  re¬ 
turn  home  from  Nashua,  where  he  married  them.  J.  B.  H. 


14 


Ebenezer  Hill 


the  text  “How  amiable  are  Thy  tabernacles,  O  Lord  of 
Hosts!”  (Ps.  84:1)  ;  but  I  imagine  that  the  eyes  of  the  con¬ 
gregation  would  often  stray  from  the  pulpit  to  the  first  wing 
pew  on  the  right — the  Minister’s  pew — where  sat  the  Min¬ 
ister’s  new  wife,  the  first  lady  of  the  town.  The  building  of 
that  meeting-house  was  a  great  undertaking  for  that  town. 
They  were  poor  and  weak-handed,  and  were  long  in  finish¬ 
ing,  but  at  length  it  was  finished  and  dedicated. 

Those  early  years  of  his  ministry  must  have  been  for 
our  Minister  years  of  active,  hard  work.  There  were  two 
long  sermons  to  be  created  and  written  out  each  week.  He 
could  not  have  had  many  in  the  barrel  when  he  began.  His 
penmanship  was  typical  of  the  man,  small,  neat,  clear,  like  del¬ 
icate  engraving,  every  character  perfectly  drawn.  He  used 
in  writing  his  sermons  a  system  of  shorthand,  his  own  inven¬ 
tion  doubtless,  by  means  of  which  the  labor  of  writing  was 
much  reduced.  In  his  parish,  work  he  usually  had  eight  or 
ten  weddings,  and  about  as  many  funerals,  each  year.  Of 
course  seasons  differed.  He  took  an  active  part  in  public 
affairs,  and  was  popular  with  the  people,  although  there  were 
few  additions  to  the  church  in  those  early  years.  The  church 
accessions  of  that  day  usually  came  from  revivals  that  took 
place  at  intervals  of  about  twelve  or  fifteen  years,  time  being 
given  for  a  new  crop  of  the  unconverted  to  grow  up.  Such 
a  revival  they  had  in  Mason  in  1785,  and  another  in  1802, 
and  another  in  1827. 

But  if  the  Minister’s  church  flock  did  not  increase  rap¬ 
idly  in  those  early  years  his  private  flock  multiplied.  One 
year  after  his  second  marriage  came  the  third  addition  to 
his  family — and  again  twins.  On  the  25th  of  November,  1796, 
the  boys  Joseph  Bancroft  and  John  Boynton  were  born.  Col¬ 
loquially  they  were  called  “Bancroft”  and  “Bineton”,  and  by 
these  names  they  have  been  known  in  Mason  and  vicinity 
ever  since.  The  first  of  these  twins  would  probably  have 
been  called  Ebenezer  Bancroft,  after  his  maternal  grand¬ 
father,  had  there  not  been  already  an  Ebenezer  in  that  gen¬ 
eration.  John  Boynton  was  named  in  remembrance  of  the  first 
wife’s  family.  When  he  became  old  enough  to  think  about 
it,  he  called  this  “an  abominable  imposition.” 


The  Little  Minister 


15 


Those  babes  were  born  in  the  time  of  the  bleak  winds 
of  November.  The  outer  door  of  the  little  house  opened  di¬ 
rectly  into  the  living  room ;  and  that  living  room  must  have 
been  at  once  kitchen,  dining  room,  sleeping  room  and  study. 
A  single  open  fireplace  furnished  all  the  heat  used,  and  by  it 
all  the  cooking  and  washing  must  have  been  done.  Life  in 
that  family,  with  five  small  children,  the  eldest  barely  five 
years  old,  the  grandmother  then  about  sixty-three,  must  have 
been  for  the  Little  Minister,  and  especially  for  that  young 
mother,  savored  with  hardship. 

The  New  England  winter  came  on.  It  was  more  than 
she  could  bear.  She  sank  into  consumption,  and  the  following 
summer  the  death  registry  was  again  opened,  and  the  Little 
Minister  wrote:  “July  12,  1797.  Rebecca,  wife  of  Ebenezer 
Hill  departed  this  life  ten  minutes  after  one  o’clock,  p.m.,  aged 
twenty-six  years,  four  months  and  seven  days.” 

Another  procession  to  the  meeting-house  on  the  hill ; 
another  funeral  sermon,  and  condolence  and  sympathy  from 
the  brethren.  But  his  beloved  friend  Dix  could  not  be  there ; 
he  was  nearing  his  own  end,  and  died  a  few  weeks  later.  His 
biographer  writes  that  “for  some  time  before  his  death  he 
experienced  a  degree  of  illness”.  But  whatever  may  have  been 
said  or  done  by  way  of  comfort  or  consolation  there  must 
have  remained  dire  need  in  the  parsonage.  Doubtless  the 
ministerial  brethren  bestirred  themselves — they  were  a  power 
in  the  land,  and,  when  with  divine  unction  they  revealed 
to  a  devout  soul  the  path  of  duty,  to  hesitate  would  be  sin. 
Still  it  was  no  easy  task,  even  for  these  strong  persuaders, 
to  find  one  with  the  needful  endowments  for  the  exalted  po¬ 
sition,  who  would  be  willing  to  begin  her  married  life  with 
a  ready-made  family  of  five  small  children  in  the  little  parson¬ 
age  at  Mason  however  great  the  honor  might  seem. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  need  was  greater  than  after 
the  death  of  the  first  wife,  a  much  longer  time  elapsed  before 
relief  was  found.  In  1798,  the  Minister’s  father  Samuel,  who 
had  been  living  with  Samuel,  Jr.,  at  the  foot  of  the  Darling 
Hill,  died.  It  was  a  period  of  gloom,  and  those  early  years 
in  the  family  history  were  years  of  trial  and  hardship  to  our 
Minister,  “such”,  says  his  biographer,  “as  to  leave  traces  on 


i6 


Ebenezer  Hill 


his  character  ever  after/’  But  at  length  relief  came,  and  the 
clouds  were  dispelled.  The  woman  was  found,  and  she  was 
able,  competent  and  ready.  When,  a  long  time  afterward, 
she  was  asked  what  could  ever  have  induced  her,  a  young, 
attractive  widow,  belonging  to  a  wealthy  and  honored  family 
in  the  old  town  of  Bedford,  Mass.,  to  leave  the  comfort  and 
society  in  her  father’s  ample  mansion  and  undertake  the  care 
of  that  little  parsonage  home,  she  replied:  “Well,  I  pitied 
those  poor  children;  and  then  I  always  did  have  a  very  great 
respect  for  the  ministry.” 

Abigail  (Jones)  Stearns,  the  Little  Minister’s  third  wife, 
was  a  noble  woman,  and  much  might  be  written  in  her  praise. 
On  the  29th  of  September,  1799,  they  were  married.  She  was 
then  about  28  years  of  age  (born  October  13,  1771),  the  daugh¬ 
ter  of  Col.  Timothy  Jones,  of  Bedford,  Mass.,  and  the  widow 
of  Lt.  Edward  Stearns,  Jr.,  who  died  only  four  and  a  half 
months  after  her  marriage  to  him.*  With  her  coming,  the  years 
of  trials  and  hardships  came  to  an  end.  She  brought  with  her 
an  ample  dower,  which  furnished  the  needed  relief.  A  new 
house,  the  present  commodious  mansion,  was  at  once  started 
and  carried  rapidly  to  completion.  It  is  said  that  Timothy 
Jones,  Jr.,  of  Bedford,  built  this  house  for  his  sister,  and  that 
it  is  a  copy  of  the  Jones  mansion  in  Bedford.  My  mother’s 
grandfather  Josiah  Flagg,  who  had  removed  from  Worcester, 
Mass.,  to  Mason,  about  1795,  did  the  stone  work  on  the  new 
house,  and  it  is  creditably  done.  In  it  the  family  was  installed, 
and  it  furnished  them  a  comfortable  home,  so  long  as  any  of 
them  remained  in  Mason. 

Abigail  Jones  made  an  excellent  stepmother,  and  long 
years  afterward  her  tender  care  and  loving  kindness  were 
gratefully  remembered.  She  was  honored  by  those  for  whom 
she  had  cared  in  their  helpless  infancy.  Even  the  church 
revived  after  her  coming.  In  the  first  ten  years  after  our  Min¬ 
ister  was  ordained,  only  eleven  persons  joined  the  church,  and 
most  of  these  by  letter;  but  in  1800  four,  in  1801  seven,  and 
in  1802  forty-seven,  joined  by  profession  of  faith.  But  the 


*The  Lieutenant’s  first  wife  was  her  sister  Polly  Jones,  by  whom  he 
had  one  child,  Edward,  who  lived  but  18  months. 


The  Little  Minister 


i  7 

new  wife,  devoutly  pious  as  she  was,  could  not  have  had 
much  time  for  anything  outside  her  own  household.  Tra¬ 
dition  says  she  was  an  expert  in  spinning  wool,  and  kept  the 
Minister  busy  in  finding  material  for  her  wheel.  In  later  years 
she  trained  her  step-daughters  Sally  and  Polly  to  the  use  of 
the  wheel  and  loom,  and  they  made  from  the  wool  the  cloth 
that  their  brothers  Bancroft  and  Boynton  wore  when  they 
went  to  Harvard. 

The  new  house  was  hardly  finished  when  the  sixth  child 
of  the  Minister  was  born,  (July  19,  1800),  named  Edward 
Stearns,  after  the  mother’s  first  husband.  As  in  the  case  of 
the  first  boys,  Bancroft  and  Boynton,  the  family  preferred  for 
everyday  use  the  second  rather  than  the  first  name,  and  al¬ 
ways  called  this  boy  Stearns. 

During  that  first  ten  years,  the  years  of  stress  and  trial, 
the  Little  Minister’s  chief  earthly  support  was  undoubtedly 
his  mother.  It  was  by  her  labor  and  exertion  that  in  his  early 
years  he  had  been  enabled  to  win  his  way  through  college ; 
and  in  the  early  years  of  his  ministry,  it  was  her  care  and 
oversight  that  kept  this  little  family  from  separation.  It  is 
pleasant  to  know  that  the  last  eight  years  of  her  life  were 
passed  in  pleasure  and  comfort. 

When  the  baby  Stearns  was  about  two  years  old,  a  girl 

was  born  (March  3,  1802).  It  would  seem  natural  that  the 

mother  should  give  to  this  her  first  girl  baby  her  own  name, 

but  no,  not  yet !  This  child  must  perpetuate  the  name  of  her 

father’s  second  wife,  and  so  she  was  called  Rebecca  Howard. 

The  name  Rebecca  was  also  appropriate  for  this  child  as  the 

grand-daughter  of  Rebecca  Bateman  Jones.  But  the  mother’s 

faith  and  patience  had  fruition,  and  two  years  later  (Feb.  7, 

1804)  another  girl  joined  the  family  group.  She  was  named 

« 

Abigail  Jones,  after  her  mother.  On  the  14th  of  December, 
1806,  the  ninth  child,  another  daughter,  was  born,  and  named 
Maria.  The  mansion  was  large;  but,  with  nine  children  and 
the  old  grandmother,  the  little  Minister  had  a  pretty  heavy 
burden.  Unfortunately  the  Congregationalists  did  not,  like 
the  Methodists,  increase  the  preacher’s  salary  as  the  number 
dependent  upon  him  increased. 

The  next  year  (1807),  the  oldest  boy,  Ebenezer,  then 


i8 


Ebenezer  Hill 


about  sixteen,  left  home,  and  entered  the  office  of  Joseph 
Cushing,  founder  of  the  Farmers’  Cabinet,  at  Amherst,  N.  H., 
to  learn  the  printer’s  trade.  Among  old  papers  I  found  the 
first  letter  he  sent  home,  written  to  his  brothers  Bancroft  and 
Boynton.  It  was  such  a  letter  as  you  would  expect  from  a 
brother  to  his  younger  brothers,  somewhat  patronizing,  show¬ 
ing  a  little  homesickness,  telling  of  wonders  to  be  seen  at  Am¬ 
herst,  of  Mr.  Cushing’s  new  press  from  Boston,  which  they 
had  to  go  after  on  Sunday ,  with  a  wheelbarrow,  (I  suspect 
it  was  this  press  that  Horace  Greeley  used  some  years  later), 
enquiring  after  everybody  at  home,  and  begging  them  to  send 
him  a  letter.  Mr.  Robbins,  whose  turn  it  would  be  in  two 
weeks  to  go  to  Amherst  from  Mason  to  get  the  papers  for  that 
town,  would  bring  the  letter. 

The  same  year,  1807,  “Grandmother  Jones”  died.  I  think 
that  Mrs.  Hill’s  youngest  sister,  Betsy  Jones,  came  then  to 
live  in  the  Mason  parsonage,  which  became  her  home  until 
her  marriage  in  1813;  or,  possibly,  after  the  death  of  Col. 
Timothy  Jones,  June  1,  1804,  the  widow  came  with  her  daugh¬ 
ter  Betsy  to  live  at  the  old  manse,  and  there  she  died  Aug. 
13,  1807. 

On  the  15th  of  March,  1808,  another  son  was  born,  and 
named  Timothy  Jones,  after  his  maternal  grandfather.  That 
year  Bancroft  and  Boynton  were  in  Tyngsboro.  On  the  30th 
of  December  of  the  same  year,  the  grandmother,  Sarah  Cutler 
Hill,  passed  away,  aged  seventy-five  years.  The  child  Tim¬ 
othy  Jones  lived  only  a  little  more  than  two  years;  but,  one 
month  before  his  death,  another  daughter,  Lucy  Sylvania,  was 
born  (June  14,  1810).  Two  years  later,  the  twelfth  child, 
Adeliza,  appeared,  (June  14,  1812). 

Up  to  this  time  neither  deaths  nor  departures  had  re¬ 
duced  the  number  in  the  household.  The  family  seems  to 
have  been  prosperous  and  happy.  The  original  farm  had  been 
enlarged  by  the  purchase  of  a  valuable  meadow,  a  woodlot 
and  a  pasture.  The  boys,  Bancroft,  Boynton  and  Stearns, 
were  easily  able  to  do  the  farm  work ;  while  the  girls,  Polly, 
Sally,  Rebecca  and  Betsy  Jones,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
skilled  mistress,  could  manage  the  house  and  care  for  the 
ever-present  infant  contingent.  They  were  all  fond  of  music, 


The  Little  Minister 


19 


and  delighted  in  “performing  anthems”.  Singing-schools  were 
prevalent  and  popular.  Uncle  Samuel  Hill’s  family,*  in  which 
there  were  several  cousins — girls  and  boys — was  not  far  away, 
and  the  two  families  were  very  intimate. 


*1  have  been  interested  in  learning  what  I  could  about  Great- 
Uncle  Samuel  and  his  family.  He  was  born  in  1764,  at  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  and  was  therefore  about  two  years  older  than  his  brother 
Ebenezer.  He  came  to  Mason,  probably  in  1792,  and  remained  there 
until  his  death,  of  typhoid  fever,  May  23,  1813,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
nine.  It  is  recorded  of  him  that  “He  was  a  useful,  industrious  man, 
noted  for  sterling  integrity  and  independence  of  character;  a  good 
husband,  father  and  citizen.”  (Memoir  of  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hill,  p.  8). 

He  married  Dorcas  Wyeth,  born  1770,  who  came  from  an  excellent 
family  (so  said  Uncle  Boynton)  in  Cambridge.  There  were  at  least 
seven  children  from  this  marriage,  three  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 
Of  the  others,  Samuel,  the  oldest,  taught  school  in  Milford  and  in 
Fitchburg.  About  1816  he  went  to  Troy,  New  York,  where  he  became 
a  successful  man  of  business.  Years  later  Stearns  Hill  writes  of  meet¬ 
ing  Cousin  Samuel  in  New  York  City,  where  he  was  purchasing  goods 
for  his  business.  Isaac  Hill,  a  younger  son  of  Uncle  Samuel,  became 
a  prosperous  and  much  respected  business  man  in  a  Massachusetts 
town.  Sally,  one  of  the  girls,  married,  in  December,  1814,  Moses 
Barrett,  of  Lancaster,  Mass.,  of  whom  Bancroft  writes  that  he  “had 
paid  his  addresses  to  her  for  about  nine  months.  He  is  a  nephew  to 
Capt.  Jesse  Barrett,  of  this  town,  and  I  believe  a  person  of  consider¬ 
able  property.”  Another  daughter  Rebecca,  married  Jonathan  Rich¬ 
ardson,  and  became  the  mother  of  Charles  P.  Richardson,  for  many 
years  the  managing  agent  of  the  Columbian  Mills,  at  Mason  Village 
(Greenville,  N.  H.). 

Dorcas  (Wyeth)  Hill  died  Jan.  19,  1807.  In  Sept.  1809,  Uncle 
Samuel  took  his  second  wife  Mary  Adams,  then  about  twenty-nine 
years  of  age.  Uncle  Boynton,  who  knew  her  well,  said  that  Mary  was 
a  good  woman  and  made  Uncle  Samuel  an  excellent  wife.  At  the 
time  she  married  him,  she  had  a  child,  a  girl,  eight  years  old,  whom 
Uncle  adopted  and  named  Almira  Hill.  By  Mary  Adams  Uncle 
Samuel  had  several  children,  one  of  whom  Mary  married  J.  Porter 
Woodbury,  a  merchant  of  Boston,  residing  in  Lynn,  Mass.  Her  son, 
Charles  Jephtha  Hill  Woodbury,  A.M.,  Sc.D., — President  of  Lynn  His¬ 
torical  Society,  writer  of  some  very  interesting  historical  monograms, 
lecturer  on  insurance — has  been  a  business  success. 

After  Uncle’s  death,  Almira  lived  with  her  mother,  and  tenderly 
cared  for  her  until  that  mother  died.  They  are  both  buried  in  the 
family  lot  at  Mason.  I  remember  them  well.  Of  the  other  children 
of  Mary  (Adams)  Hill,  I  know  nothing;  but  Mrs.  Woodbury  fre- 


20 


Ebenezer  Hill 


There  were  many  young  people  in  Mason.  A  Sunday- 
school  was  not  established  there  until  1816;  but  from  the 
time  that  his  children  were  old  enough  to  be  instructed — 
probably  from  the  time  that  the  new  home  was  occupied — 
every  Sunday  afternoon  after  the  second  church  service  was 
over,  it  was  the  custom  of  the  Little  Minister  to  gather  his 
family  about  him  and  carefully  go  over  with  them  the  West¬ 
minster  Assembly’s  Shorter  Catechism,  explaining  and  com¬ 
menting  on  the  doctrines  therein  contained.  These  exercises 
practically  ended  the  Sabbathday  observances.  That  end  must 
have  been  to  those  children  a  glad  relief ! 

In  October,  1812,  the  high  tide  of  population  in  the  Mason 
family  was  reached.  There  were  on  the  first  of  that  month, 
apparently,  eight  girls,  including  Betsy  Jones,  and  three  boys, 
at  home.  But  the  ebb  soon  began.  On  October  12,  1812, 
Betsy  Jones  married  James  Wood,  Jr.  The  following  Janu¬ 
ary  (17,  1813)  Polly  Hill  married  Timothy  Wheeler,  and  on 
the  tenth  of  October  following,  Sally  Hill,  not  to  be  far  behind 
her  twin  sister,  married  Josiah  Merriam.  The  grooms  were 
all  substantial  farmers  and  residents  of  Mason.  The  girls 
had  not  much  chance  to  meet  beaux  in  other  towns.  They  all 
set  up  their  family  penates  in  Mason,  and  were  near  the  old 
home,  but  no  longer  inmates.  About  Jan.  1,  1815,  Bancroft 
writes  to  Ebenezer,  Jr.:  “  ’Tis  surprising  to  see  the  alterations 
a  few  years  make  in  a  family.  Three  years  ago  there  were  three 
small  girls  living  in  this,  namely  Polly,  Sally  and  Betsy  Jones. 
They  are  all  now  married  and  have  a  likely  son  each.” 

When  the  last  of  the  three  brides  left,  there  were  still  five 
girls  and  three  boys  remaining.  Bancroft  and  Boynton  were 
then  about  seventeen,  small  in  stature,  but  active  and  healthy. 
With  Stearns’  assistance  they  easily  did  the  farm  work  and 
found  time  for  other  things.  They  hunted  over  the  hills  for 
rabbits  and  partridges.  They  fished  the  brooks  for  trout. 
They  watched  the  evolutions  of  the  militia  on  training  days. 
At  the  annual  muster  in  October — usually  held  in  Temple — 


quently  came  to  Mason,  to  visit  Uncle  Boynton  and  the  scenes  of 
her  childhood.  Uncle  visited  her  luxurious  home  in  Lynn.  I  once 
accompanied  him. 


The  Little  Minister 


21 


they  were  on  hand  with  keen  appetites  when  the  beef  and 
bread  were  distributed  to  men  and  boys  alike.  They  read  all 
the  books  they  could  get  hold  of,  and  frequently  walked  to 
Temple,  seven  miles  distant,  to  draw  books  from  the  Colum¬ 
bian  Library  in  that  town.  Sometimes  they  made  visits  to 
their  Grandfather  Bancroft’s  in  Tyngsboro,  and  to  their  aunt, 
Mrs.  Towne’s,  in  Stoddard.  They  undoubtedly  attended  all 
the  winter  schools,  and  probably  studied  at  home.  In  Janu¬ 
ary,  1814,  Bancroft  writes :  “I  have  cyphered  about  four 
weeks  this  winter,  and  expect  to  get  through  the  Rule  of  Three 
today.”  Boynton  undoubtedly  kept  along  with  his  brother, 
for  they  studied  out  of  the  same  book.  They  boosted  each 
other.  While  they  were  in  college,  it  was  said  of  them  that 
Bancroft  was  the  better  of  the  two  in  mathematics,  while 
Boynton  was  superior  in  “the  humanities”.  This  was  un¬ 
doubtedly  true,  for  I  find  that  in  later  life  Boynton,  who  all 
his  life  was  a  lover  of  the  classics,  was  sending  mathematical 
problems  to  Bancroft  for  solution.  Bancroft  solved  the  prob¬ 
lems,  but  took  no  pleasure  in  Latin  and  Greek. 

Sometime  in  1814  these  boys  determined  to  try  for  a  col¬ 
lege  education.  Their  older  brother  Ebenezer  opposed  their 
ambition.  He  thought  the  means  of  the  family  were  too  slen¬ 
der  to  allow  of  any  such  extravagance! — and  he  was  about 
right — but  their  father  sympathized  with  them,  and  promised, 
if  they  would  do  the  farm  work  for  the  next  two  years,  he 
would  help  them  all  he  could  in  their  college  career.  So  they 
set  about  their  preparation.  They  attended  an  academy 
taught  by  Mr.  Daniel  Gould,  at  Tyngsboro,  in  the  winter  of 
1815,  boarding  at  their  Grandfather  Bancroft’s.  Then  they 
came  home  and  did  the  farm  work  in  the  summer  of  1816, 
studying  in  the  meantime  as  much  as  they  could. 

In  September,  1816,  Bancroft  writes  from  Mason  to  one 
of  his  Tyngsboro  schoolmates :  “Haying,  reaping,  hoeing, 
etc.,  kept  us  busy  until  the  latter  part  of  August.  We  made  a 
shift,  notwithstanding,  to  get  through  with  the  Aeneid,  and 
paid  a  little  attention  to  scanning.  Since  then  we  have  been 
employed  with  Tully.”  He  then  goes  on  and  discusses  Vergil 
and  Cicero  in  a  learned  fashion.  On  Thanksgiving  Day,  the 
following  November  (14th),  he  writes  to  his  Brother  Ebene- 


22 


Ebenezer  Hill 


zer,  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  “Boynton  and  I  have  been  studying  Latin 
and  Greek  the  past  season.  We  went  to  school  one  month, 
the  rest  of  the  time  at  home.  Today  we  have  performed  the 
anthems  ‘O  praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  people’  and  ‘Tell  ye  the 
daughters  of  Jerusalem’.” 

It  is  a  little  remarkable  that,  in  this  letter,  he  did  not 
mention  a  recent  occurrence  which  in  most  families  would  be 
considered  worth  mentioning,  namely,  the  birth  of  another 
child.  Could  it  be  that  that  oft-repeated  phenomenon  had 
lost  interest?  On  the  16th  of  October,  1816,  Martha,  the 
thirteenth  child,  was  born,  and  in  his  first  letter  to  Ebenezer, 
Jr.,  written  less  than  a  month  after,  (and  I  know  from  the 
reply  that  Ebenezer  had  not  received  a  letter  from  Mason 
between  those  dates)  Bancroft  did  not  think  to  mention  the 
new  sister!  This  letter  was  not  sent  by  mail — too  expensive 
— but  by  the  hand  of  ‘Cousin  Samuel’  Hill,  in  whose  printing 
office  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Ebenezer,  Jr.,  was  then  employed. 

In  the  winter  of  1816-17,  these  boys  taught  schools  in 
Massachusetts,  Bancroft  at  Carlyle  and  at  Townsend,  and 
Boynton  in  Winchendon.  They  then  returned  to  Mason, 
where  their  former  teacher,  Mr.  Gould,  was  boarding  in  the 
family.  They  studied  under  his  direction,  and  worked  on  the 
farm,  until  July,  when  they  went  to  the  Academy  at  New 
Ipswich.  This  Appleton  Academy  was  in  that  day  a  famous 
school,  and  our  Little  Minister,  from  1813  to  1830,  was  one 
of  its  trustees  and  sometime  President  of  the  Board.  In  the 
fall  they  matriculated  at  Harvard.  Thus  came  another  dimin¬ 
ution  of  the  family  group,  and  it  was  a  pretty  serious  one. 

Stearns  was  now  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  on  him  de¬ 
volved  the  management  of  the  farm.  He  was  strong,  ener¬ 
getic,  active,  and  loved  farm  work,  but  it  was  a  pretty  heavy 
burden  for  a  seventeen-year-old.  Agricultural  labor  was  not 
compatible  with  the  dignity  of  the  ministerial  profession.  The 
Little  Minister  was  scrupulous  to  maintain  that  dignity ;  his 
office  was  a  sacred  calling.  Even  had  he  been  willing,  and 
capable  of  farm  work,  to  which  he  was  never  trained,  his 
official  duties  demanded  all  his  time  and  strength.  The  days 
of  horseback-riding  and  the  pillion  had  gone  by ;  it  was  then 
the  time  of  the  ‘one-hoss  shay’.  In  it  our  Little  Minister  went 


The  Little  Minister 


23 


rolling  and  bouncing  over  the  hills  of  the  countryside  for  miles 
around.  I  remember  that  old  black  ‘shay’,  high  in  the  air,  the 
body  swung  on  stout  leather  straps,  two  tall  wheels,  stout 
shafts,  and  a  hood  that  came  down  well  in  front  to  keep 
off  the  rain.  It  stood  for  many  years  in  the  old  barn,  too 
strongly  built  to  decay,  and  too  antique  to  be  used. 

In  1818  there  was  a  disease  that  they  called  ‘throat  dis¬ 
temper’  (probably  diphtheria),  which  made  sad  ravages 
among  the  children  in  Mason  and  vicinity.  It  was  like  a 
plague,  and  the  consolations  of  the  pastor  were  sought  for 
in  every  direction.  They  were  hardly  in  the  mood  for  Thanks¬ 
giving,  which  was  not  observed  until  December  31st  of  that 
year.  On  that  day,  Stearns  writes:  “We  sang  Wesley,  Walsal, 
Stand  up,  my  soul,  Sinai,  The  Heavens  are  telling,  and  Strike 
the  Cymbal,  which  went  very  well.”  This  was  rather  an  am¬ 
bitious  musical  programme. 

The  boys,  Bancroft  and  Boynton,  came  home  for  a  short 
time  in  the  fall,  and  then  went  away  to  teach  school, — Ban¬ 
croft  in  Weston,  Mass.,  and  Boynton  in  Tyngsboro.  Their 
Harvard  class  had  rebelled  against  the  college  government, 
and  had  all  been  dismissed.  It  might  be  supposed  that  our 
Minister  would  be  much  distressed  by  this  escapade,  but  he 
heard  their  story  very  calmly,  and  seemed  rather  to  sympa¬ 
thize  with  the  boys.  The  rebels,  all  except  three  or  four, 
came  back,  some  sooner,  some  later,  under  an  amnesty  procla¬ 
mation  issued  by  the  college  authorities.  I  suspect  that  our 
kinsman  Bancroft  was  a  prominent  offender,  not  in  the  orig¬ 
inal  transgression  but  in  the  protest  and  defiance  of  college 
authority  which  the  class  made  because  they  thought  the 
punishment  of  their  offending  classmates  was  unjust.  Ban¬ 
croft  remained  at  Weston,  and  taught  his  school,  disregarding 
the  offer  of  pardon  on  prompt  return.  When  finally  he  did 
come  in,  he  was  advised  that  he  had  been  expelled ;  but  he 
succeeded  in  securing  a  revocation  of  that  edict,  and  was  a 
few  days  later  reinstated. 

All  the  family  were  much  interested  in  these  college  boys, 
as  frequent  letters  from  their  sisters  Polly  and  Sally — then 
still  resident  in  Mason — give  abundant  evidence.  Sally  was 
a  superior  woman,  and  her  letters  are  of  interest.  In  one, 


24 


Ebenezer  Hill 


written  July  10,  1819,  to  Bancroft,  then  at  Cambridge,  she 
writes :  “Behave  well,  and  be  steady.  If  short  for  cash,  spend 
as  little  as  possible.  Do  not  trouble  yourself  about  what  you 
owe  me.  If  you  never  pay,  it  is  no  matter.  I  conclude  Doct. 
Johnson  told  you  that  there  was  another  stranger  had  come 
into  our  midst — another  brother  added  to  our  number.  God 
grant  that  he  may  be  a  blessing  and  comfort  to  us  all.  I  sus¬ 
pect  he  is  an  unwelcome  guest  to  our  father.”  Thus  she  an¬ 
nounced  the  birth  (June  30,  1819),  of  Timothy  the  last  of  the 
fourteen  children. 

It  may  be  as  well  for  us  now  to  take  a  glance  over  the 
household  and  see  whom  we  have.  In  1820  the  Fourth 
National  Census  of  the  United  States  was  taken.  The  family 
of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hill  then,  beside  the  father  and  mother 
consisted  of  Edward  Stearns,  twenty  years  of  age ;  Rebecca 
Howard,  eighteen;  Abigail  Jones  (familiarly  called  Nabby, 
who  lived  with  her  sister  Sally  Merriam,  and  who,  when  asked 
by  the  latter  if  she  wished  to  send  any  message  to  her  Brother 
Bancroft,  then  in  college,  said:  “Tell  him  he  is  a  saucy  block¬ 
head”)  aged  sixteen ;  Maria,  fourteen ;  Lucy  Sylvania,  ten ; 
Adeliza,  eight;  Martha,  four,  and  Timothy,  one.  There  was 
also  a  young  man  called  Horace,  about  the  age  of  Stearns, 
who  worked  with  him  on  the  farm.  In  1821  Nabby  went  to 
school  in  Jaffrey,  boarding  in  her  aunt’s  family.  In  1821 
Stearns  became  of  age.  He  had  been  the  family  reliance  for 
several  years,  and  they  viewed  his  departure  with  apprehen¬ 
sion. 

The  Little  Minister  was  now  the  oldest  of  all  the  min¬ 
isters  in  that  region  in  point  of  service,  and  one  of  the  most 
highly  esteemed.  Of  those  clergymen  who  stood  with  him  at 
his  ordination  only  two  remained.  He  was  often  called  to 
serve  on  public  occasions  in  the  neighboring  towns,  most 
frequently  for  preaching  funeral  sermons,  in  which  branch  of 
his  profession  he  was  very  able.  These  sermons  were  often 
printed  and  preserved  by  the  afflicted  families  as  a  memorial 
for  the  dead  and  a  warning  for  the  living.  When  the  revival 
seasons  came  around,  he  was  often  away  from  home  for  sev¬ 
eral  days,  aiding  his  brethren  in  other  parishes.  And  the 
pastoral  cares  of  his  own  town  were  exacting.  When  epi- 


The  Little  Minister 


25 


demies,  amounting  almost  to  plagues,  swept  the  town,  he 
ministered  to  the  sick,  buried  the  dead,  and  comforted  the  sur¬ 
vivors.  In  1822  two  of  the  children  of  his  daughter  Polly 
died  in  the  space  of  two  days  and  in  1825  two  of  Sally’s 
children  died  in  one  month. 

In  1822  (Feb.  26)  Sally’s  babe  died,  only  twenty-one  days 
old.  Her  brothers  wrote  her  letters  of  sympathy  and  con¬ 
dolence.  In  her  reply  to  one  of  these  letters,  she  gives  ex¬ 
pression  to  the  mother’s  love  struggling  with  the  mother’s 
religion.  She  writes :  ‘T  feel  my  loss  very  much, — full  as 
much  now  as  I  did  when  she  first  died.  I  think  that  time  has 
not  weaned  my  affections  in  the  least  from  the  dear  child; 
but  I  trust  I  do  not  complain.  God  has  done  me  no  injustice. 
He  gave  me  my  comforts,  and  He  takes  but  what  He  gave. 
It  is  a  severe  trial,  and  I  feel  it  hard  to  submit  to  it ;  but  I 
do  not  doubt  that  it  is  all  for  the  best  that  I  am  afflicted, 
and  God  for  some  wise  purpose  has  done  it.  What  that  pur¬ 
pose  may  be,  futurity  alone  can  unfold.  I  hope  I  shall  bow 
in  humble  submission  to  the  divine  will,  and  not  by  my 
selfish  complaints  provoke  Him  to  take  my  remaining  com¬ 
forts.  My  child  is  undoubtedly  taken  from  the  evil  to  come. 
Her  state  is  now  unalterably  fixed,  and  it  does  not  become  me 
to  indulge  in  unprofitable  doubts  and  fears  respecting  her 
state.  This  we  know:  She  has  gone  to  a  just  God,  One  who 
will  not  do  her  any  wrong.  But  I  must  confess  I  have  many 
distressing,  anxious  fears  concerning  her  future  welfare.  God 
grant  that  we  may  meet  her  in  His  presence,  never  more  to 
separate.” 

About  this  time,  convinced  of  the  evils  of  intemperance, 
the  Little  Minister  zealously  undertook  a  temperance  reform, 
and  banished  from  his  cupboard  the  square  case-bottle  of 
Medford  rum,  from  which  he  and  his  brethren  had  so  often 
drawn  cheer  and  comfort.  And,  further  to  set  an  example  in 
the  breaking  off  of  bad  habits,  he  gave  up  chewing  tobacco. 

In  1821  Bancroft  and  Boynton  graduated  from  Harvard 
College.  After  a  short  visit  in  Mason,  the  former  began  a 
school  in  Milton,  Mass.,  and  the  latter  took  charge  of  Garrison 
Forest  Academy  in  the  suburbs  of  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
Stearns  looked  after  the  farm  through  the  summer,  and  in  the 


26 


Ebenezer  Hill 


winter  taught  schools  in  Londonderry  and  in  Merrimac,  N.  H. 
Through  these  years  the  family  were  much  concerned  about 
the  oldest  boy,  Ebenezer,  Jr.,  who  had  left  Troy,  N.  Y.,  in 
1819,  and  gone  to  Alabama,  and  later  to  Tennessee.  They 
rarely  heard  from  him. 

In  the  summer  of  1822,  Stearns,  having  successfully  com¬ 
pleted  his  winter  school-teaching,  planned  to  attend  the 
academy  in  Derry;  but  he  was  so  much  needed  at  home  that 
he  gave  up  his  plan,  and  came  home  to  manage  the  farm. 
In  July  he  went  to  Concord,  the  State  Capital,  “to  see  the 
House  organized,  and  hear  the  election  sermon  preached,”  etc. 
He  does  not  tell  us  much  about  the  sermon,  but  the  music 
made  a  great  impression.  He  writes :  “The  music  was  new 
to  me,  almost  the  whole  of  it.  The  first  was  from  Old  Colony 
Collection,  ‘The  great  Jehovah  is  our  awful  theme,  Sublime 
in  majesty,  in  power  supreme,  Hallelujah!’  Second,  ‘Gently, 
Lord,  O  gently  lead  us  Through  this  lonely  vale  of  tears’. 
Third,  ‘When  winds  breathe  soft  along  the  silent  deep.’ 
Fourth,  ‘Sound  an  alarm,  your  silver  trumpets  sound.’  Fifth, 
‘Hear  my  prayer,  O  God.’  Sixth,  ‘Praise  the  Lord,  O  my 
soul,  and  forget  not  all  His  benefits.’  Seventh,  The  Discourse. 
Eighth,  ‘Strike  the  cymbals.’  Ninth,  ‘Thou  wilt  shew  me 
the  path  of  life;  In  Thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy.’  Tenth, 
Judgment  Hymn.  Eleventh,  Extract  from  the  Intercession, 
‘Father,  Thy  word  is  just;  Man  shall  find  grace.’  Twelfth, 
‘Then  round  about  the  starry  Throne.’  Thirteenth,  ‘To  Thee 
cherubim  and  seraphim  continually  do  cry.’  Fourteenth,  ‘Be¬ 
hold  and  see  if  there  be  any  sorrow  like  unto  His  sorrow.’ 
Fifteenth,  ‘Comfort  ye  My  people,  saith  your  God.’  Sixteenth, 
‘Hallelujah  Chorus.’  Deacon  Gould  was  the  chorister.  Hon. 
James  Bingham  played  upon  the  bass  viol,  his  brother  the 
flute.  There  were  a  trumpet,  violincello,  violins,  etc.  It  was 
the  best  singing  I  ever  heard.” 

After  the  summer’s  work  was  finished,  Stearns  and  Re¬ 
becca,  in  the  ‘one-hoss  shay’,  made  a  visit  to  Bancroft  at 
Milton.  Later  Stearns  left  for  Derry  to  attend  school,  and 
taught  again  in  Londonderry,  and  (I  think)  in  Bedford,  Mass. 
In  the  summer  of  1823  he  came  back  and  managed  the  farm 
work.  In  this  year  both  Nabby  and  Rebecca  were  teaching 


The  Little  Minister 


27 


school  in  Mason  and  boarding  at  home.  Bancroft  and  Boyn¬ 
ton  finished  their  schools  and  returned  to  Mason  for  a  short 
vacation.  Th€  latter  had  determined  to  study  law,  and  the 
former  concluded  to  go  to  Baltimore  and  take  charge  of  the 
Garrison  Forest  Academy,  where  Boynton  had  been. 

The  day  before  Bancroft’s  departure  in  September,  his 
father  wrote  out  and  delivered  to  him,  “to  be  opened  on  the 
journey”,  a  long  letter  of  religious  exhortation,  advice  and 
warning.  Among  other  things,  he  feared  that  his  son,  de¬ 
voted  to  music  and  very  fond  of  “performing  anthems”,  might, 
in  singing  the  sacred  words  of  that  class  of  music,  take  the 
name  of  God  in  vain.  When  Bancroft  opened  the  letter,  we  do 
not  know.  He  went  to  Boston  and  took  ship  for  Baltimore;  but, 
in  attempting  to  pass  around  Cape  Cod,  the  ship  was  wrecked. 
No  lives  were  lost,  but  they  had  a  narrow  escape  and  great 
difficulty  in  getting  to  land,  which  they  reached  somewhere 
near  Barnstable.  From  this  place  Bancroft  wrote  to  his  fath¬ 
er  (Sept.  8,  1823)  a  vivid  account  of  the  disaster;  and  the 
old  gentleman,  unwontedly  disturbed,  wrote  him  another  long 
letter,  beginning  “My  very  dear  Son  restored  to  me  again 
from  the  very  jaws  of  death.”  “My  very  dear  Son”  was  a  form 
of  address  that  he  never  used  unless  he  was  greatly  moved. 
He  usually  wrote,  with  dignity  and  repression,  “My  Son.” 

Boynton  did  not  get  home  until  after  Bancroft  had  de¬ 
parted.  In  fact,  I  think  he  remained  in  Maryland  until  his 
brother  arrived.  After  his  return  to  Mason,  he  went  for  a 
short  time  to  the  Harvard  Law  School,  then  read  law  in  the 
office  of  Mark  Farley,  Hollis,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
He  opened  an  office  in  Nashua,  where  he  remained  for  a 
year  or  two,  and  then  removed  (1827)  to  Townsend,  Mass., 
and  later  (1828)  to  Maine.  During  these  years  he  was  fre¬ 
quently  at  Mason,  and  took  a  deep  interest  in  looking  after 
the  welfare  of  the  family. 

Stearns,  after  teaching  in  Milton,  Mass.,  through  the 
winter  of  1823-24,  went  to  New  York  City,  where  he  was 
employed  by  Mr.  Clapp,  hardware  and  looking-glass  merchant, 
who  married  a  daughter  of  Dea.  Houghton,  of  Milton.  I 
suspect  that  Stearns’  acquaintance  with  Mrs.  Clapp’s  sister 
Catharine  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  his  locating  in 


28 


Ebenezer  Hill 


Mr.  Clapp’s  employment.  He  learned  the  business  thorough¬ 
ly,  enjoyed  it,  and  was  taken  into  partnership.  On  June  26, 
1827,  he  married  the  said  sister  Catharine  Houghton. 

In  1825  Nabby,  who  (I  think)  had  been  teaching  in 
Fitzwilliam,  N.  H.,  and  there  made  the  acquaintance,  married 
John  Kimball,  a  resident  of  that  town.  Thereby  another 
of  the  family  was  removed. 

About  this  period,  it  was  noticed,  the  Little  Minister  did 
not  appear  as  cheerful  as  in  former  years.  He  seemed  sad¬ 
dened  and  depressed  by  some  unseen  burden.  The  truth 
was  that  he  was  anxiously  concerned  about  his  children,  par¬ 
ticularly  his  boys,  four  of  whom  had  grown  into  manhood  and 
gone  out  into  the  world.  On  behalf  of  all  his  children  his 
deepest  anxiety  was  in  regard  to  their  spiritual  welfare. 
Year  after  year  he  had  preached  and  prayed  and  catechised, 
but  not  a  single  one  had  made  profession  of  faith ;  none  had 
been  moved  to  seek  admission  to  the  church.  In  his  mind 
they  were  all  outside  the  ark  of  safety,  and  he  was  depressed 
in  spirit.  His  letters  to  his  absent  children  are  full  of  anxious 
entreaty,  argument  and  regret.  For  many  years  there  had 
been  few  additions  to  his  church,  and  an  apparent  absence 
of  any  interest  in  religious  matters. 

But  a  change  was  coming.  His  earnest  prayers  were  not 
unheard.  In  1826-27  there  was  a  great  revival  in  Mason.  The 
Little  Minister’s  ‘shay’  was  seen  in  every  part  of  the  town, 
as  he  went  seeking  out  penitents,  attending  daily  public  meet¬ 
ings  and  nightly  gatherings  for  inquiry,  examination  and  in¬ 
struction.  A  large  accession  to  the  church  was  made ;  and 
among  others  Lucy  Sylvania,  then  about  seventeen  years  of 
age,  professed  a  saving  faith  and  was  the  first  of  his  children 
to  join  the  church.  But  what  a  struggle !  Convicted  of  sin, 
she  shut  herself  in  her  room,  and  alone  fought  the  conflict. 
The  family  placed  food  at  her  door — which  remained  un¬ 
touched.  No  one  interfered.  She  had  been  instructed.  The 
father  prayed.  An  awful  solemnity  weighed  down  to  house¬ 
hold.  At  the  end  of  the  second  day  she  found  peace. 

Lucy  soon  went  to  New  York,  to  the  family  of  her  brother 
Stearns,  intending  to  spend  the  winter  and  engage  in  teaching. 
In  August  she  was  taken  sick,  nothing  very  serious  apparently, 


HOME.  OF  THE  REV.  EBENEZER  HILL 

Built  in  1  799,  and  still  in  excellent  preservation.  The  cut  is  made  from  a  pencil  drawing  by  Mrs.  Hill’s  niece  Betie  Jones  Wood. 


The  Little  Minister 


29 


but  a  physician  was  called,  and  in  the  method  of  those  days 
dosed  the  patient  with  calomel  and  jallop,  blistered — and  per¬ 
haps  bled — her.  Ten  days  later  (Aug.  14,  1827)  she  died.  In 
those  days  there  were  no  means  of  rapid  communication. 
The  family  knew  nothing  of  the  illness  until  after  her  death 
and  burial.  Stearns  wrote  a  letter  of  sad  details  to  Boynton, 
who  was  then  at  Townsend.  He  repaired  at  once  to  Mason, 
and  calling  the  family  together  in  the  old  northwest  parlor, 
read  in  broken  portions,  his  voice  choking  with  sobs  and 
emotion,  the  sad  recital.  For  months  later  gloom  hung  over 
the  household.  The  Little  Minister  thereafter  always  referred 
to  her  as  “the  lamented  Lucy  Sylvania”.  The  “Little  Timmy” 
that  had  died  an  infant  seventeen  years  before  was  forgotten. 
This  was  practically  the  first  break  in  the  family  group  by 
death — the  beginning  of  the  end. 

On  the  fourth  of  June,  1829,  Maria  married  Oliver  H. 
Pratt,  a  worthy  man,  residing  in  Mason,  near  the  home  place. 
Thus  three  of  the  girls  had  found  homes  in  the  old  town.  On 
the  10th  of  August,  1829,  Boynton  was  married  to  Achsah  G. 
Parker,  a  native  of  Hollis,  a  relative  of  the  Worcester  family. 
He  took  her  to  his  home  in  Exeter,  Maine.  She  was  well 
educated,  deeply  religious,  had  a  great  influence  over  her 
husband,  and  was  loved  and  respected  by  his  family. 

In  September,  1829,  word  was  received  that  Nabby,  who 
had  married  John  Kimball,  was  seriously  ill.  The  Little 
Minister  started  at  once  for  Fitzwilliam,  about  twenty  miles 
distant.  Arriving  there  he  found  her  apparently  better,  and 
returned  home  with  this  cheering  intelligence.  But  soon 
another  message  came.  About  one  year  previous  to  this  time, 
an  electric  storm  struck  Fitzwilliam  and  did  much  damage. 
The  home  next  to  the  Kimballs  was  shattered,  and  some 
of  the  inmates  severely  injured,  while  the  Kimball  home  re¬ 
ceived  a  less  severe  shock  but  sufficient  to  render  Nabby 
partially  insensible  for  a  time.  It  made  her  very  nervous  at 
the  time  of  storms.  Unfortunately,  the  next  day  after  her 
father  left  her  convalescent  but  very  weak,  a  terrific  storm 
rolled  from  the  Monadnock,  enveloping  the  town  and  so 
exciting  the  patient  that  a  relapse  ensued  and  her  case  was 
considered  hopeless.  All  the  family  at  Mason  repaired  at  once 


30 


Ebenezer  Hill 


to  Fitzwilliam,  and  were  present  at  the  bedside  when  the  end 
came  (Sept.  9,  1829).  Her  father  wrote  of  her:  “It  is  about 
four  years  since  she  indulged  a  hope  of  gracious  acceptance  in 
a  crucified  Savior.  She  had  proposed  to  profess  publicly  her 
faith,  and  unite  with  the  visible  Church  of  Christ  in  a  short 
time,  and  in  her  sickness  she  greatly  lamented  that  she  had 
delayed  it  until  the  time  was  past, — a  solemn  warning  to  us 
all  to  beware  of  delays.” 

But  while  the  family  were  in  deep  grief  over  the  death  of 
another  of  their  number,  there  came  from  a  far-off  country 
news  that  made  the  father’s  heart  glad.  There  had  been  a 
great  revival  in  the  region  around  Fayetteville,  Tennessee,  and 
his  boys,  Ebenezer  and  Bancroft,  had  both,  at  a  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  camp-meeting,  been  converted.  The  Little  Min¬ 
ister,  in  the  same  letter  to  Boynton  in  which  he  had  written  of 
Nabby’s  death,  writes:  “Thus  are  our  judgments  mingled 
with  mercies,  and  we  are  called  to  rejoice  and  give  thanks  for 
special  favors  as  well  as  to  mourn  under  bereavements.”  A 
long  letter  of  joy  and  thanksgiving,  beginning  “My  very  dear 
Son”,  was  immediately  dispatched  to  his  far-off  boys.  A  little 
in  doubt,  I  think,  as  to  the  efficacy  of  a  Tennessee  camp-meet¬ 
ing  conversion,  he  earnestly  enjoins  upon  his  sons  a  diligent 
and  careful  self-examination.  “But  I  entreat  you,  my  sons,  be 
very  careful.  Examine  well  and  pray  earnestly,  lest  you  be 
deceived.  Oht  my  children,  look  carefully  for  evidence  that 
old  things  are  indeed  done  away  and  all  things  become  new.” 
But  such  was  the  gloom  in  the  old  home  that  Rebecca  became 
subject  to  fits  of  melancholy.  Stearns  sent  for  her  to  visit  him 
in  New  York.  She  went,  but  it  was  with  lamentations  and 
oft-repeated  declarations  that  she  would  not  live  to  return, — 
that  she  would  follow  her  sister  Lucy  Sylvania.  The  visit  did 
her  good. 

Sometime  in  1829  or  early  in  1830,  Adeliza  became  en¬ 
gaged  to  Benjamin  Wheeler  Merriam,  a  native  of  Mason,  and 
(I  think)  residing  there  when  the  engagement  was  formed. 
He  was  generally  spoken  of  as  Wheeler  Merriam,  another 
example  of  the  then  tendency  to  use  the  second  name  in  pref¬ 
erence  to  the  first.  It  was  expected  that  the  marriage  would 
soon  take  place;  but  this  course  of  true  love  did  not  run 


The  Little  Minister 


3i 


smooth,  and  the  engagement  was  broken.  “It  was”,  Sally 
writes,  “Adeliza’s  act”,  but  she  was  very  unhappy  about  it. 
She  was  teaching  school  and,  breaking  down,  was  carried 
home  sick.  The  engagement  was  subsequently  renewed,  but 
the  marriage  did  not  take  place  until  April  4,  1833. 

In  the  meantime  (1831),  from  Exeter,  Maine,  where 
Boynton  had  established  himself,  came  cheering  reports.  He 
was  getting  rich,  had  a  large  practice,  had  bought  a  farm ;  but, 
best  of  all, — because  of  his  wife’s  influence,  perhaps — he  was 
active  in  religious  matters,  had  family  prayers,  worked  in  the 
church,  superintended  the  Sunday-school,  etc.  But  later  came 
the  intelligence  that  the  “beloved  Achsah”  was  ill.  Adeliza 
went  to  Exeter  to  aid  her  brother  in  this  trial,  and  remained 
there  until  after  Achsah’s  death  (May  6,  1831).  Of  the  girls, 
Martha  was  left  alone  at  Mason  to  aid  her  mother  in  the 
household  cares.  When  information  of  the  critical  condition 
of  Boynton’s  wife  reached  his  father,  the  latter  started  at  once 
for  Exeter,  and  was,  I  think,  present  at  the  end.  Over  the 
roads  and  in  the  conveyances  of  those  days,  a  journey  of 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  across  the  country  was  a 
serious  undertaking.  After  her  return  from  Exeter,  Adeliza 
writes  to  her  brother  (June  3,  1831)  :  “After  a  very  fatigue- 
ing  journey,  we  all  arrived  at  home  on  Friday  last.  We 
found  the  traveling  exceedingly  bad,  and  were  detained  two 
days  on  account  of  wet  weather.  I  was  discouraged  a  great 
many  times,  and  often  feared  I  should  never  reach  home. 
But,  through  the  kind  care  of  that  Being  who  ever  watches 
over  us  and  protects  us  from  innumerable  dangers,  we  got 
through  our  journey  without  injury,  except  from  fatigue.  Mr. 
Parker  was  almost  worn  out ;  and  on  my  own  part  I  do  not 
believe  I  could  have  held  out  to  ride  much  farther.” 

About  this  time  troubles  arising  out  of  the  relations  be¬ 
tween  the  Mason  church  and  the  town  began  to  grow  acute. 
Notwithstanding  that  large  accessions  had  been  made  to  the 
church  in  the  years  just  previous  (from  1826  to  1831,  over  one 
hundred  were  admitted  to  Mr.  Hill’s  church  on  profession  of 
faith),  only  a  small  minority  of  the  population  of  the  town 
were  church-members,  and  not  all  who  were  church-members 
belonged  to  his  church.  There  were — and  there  had  been  from 


32 


Ebenezer  Hill 


the  days  before  the  Little  Minister  came  to  Mason,  Baptists 
in  the  town,  and  they  had  established  a  church  of  their  own 
Naturally  when  it  came  to  collecting  taxes  for  the  support 
of  the  established  church,  they  were  dissenters  and  protested 
vigorously.  Sometimes  they  were  excused,  and  sometimes 
they  were  distrained  upon.  They  had  no  church  building,  and 
they  claimed  that,  as  they  had  been  taxed  to  aid  in  building 
and  keeping  up  the  meeting-house,  they  were  entitled  to  share 
in  its  use  for  their  church  services.  And  now,  in  1831,  another 
sect  appeared,  calling  themselves  “Christians”,  and  they 
flourished  apace.  With  all  these  dissenters  the  Little  Minis¬ 
ter  maintained  friendly  relations.  Many  of  the  converts  in 
the  revivals  conducted  by  him  joined  the  Baptist  Church. 
Some  of  the  Baptists  joined  his  church,  and  were  therefor 
roundly  labored  with  by  the  Elder  and  his  associates.  Then 
there  were  a  large  number  who  belonged  to  no  church,  and 
were  not  willing  to  be  taxed  for  church  support.  Annually 
the  question  of  providing  for  the  preacher’s  salary  as  one  of 
the  town’s  expenses  came  up  at  town-meeting,  and  of  late 
years  the  opposition  had  been  growing.  It  was  somewhat  of 
the  old  spirit  of  ‘no  taxation  without  representation’.  Those 
who  had  no  part  in  the  church  management,  no  control  over 
its  expenditures,  and  no  desire  to  benefit  from  its  ministra¬ 
tions,  naturally  objected  to  paying  the  expenses. 

This  was  not  in  Mason  alone,  but  in  every  town  where 
the  old  contract  remained  in  force.  That  same  year  Adeliza 
writes:  “They  are  trying  to  get  rid  of  Mr.  Miles  in  Temple, 
and  it  will  be  father’s  turn  next.”  So  strong  was  the  opposi¬ 
tion  that,  at  one  town-meeting  about  this  time,  they  voted  not 
to  pay  the  minister’s  salary;  but  the  contract  was  legal,  the 
town  was  bound.  Another  meeting  was  called,  and  the  salary 
granted.  “The  opposition  party,”  I  quote  from  one  of  Ade- 
liza’s  letters,  “were  so  much  enraged  that  they  determined 
to  do  something,  and  they  had  a  warrant  put  up  for  another 
meeting,  ‘To  see  if  the  town  will  dismiss  the  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Hill,  and  to  adopt  measures  to  carry  said  article  into  effect. * 
They  seemed  to  think  there  was  no  doubt  but  that  they  should 
accomplish  their  object;  but  they  found,  on  examining  the 
town  records,  that  it  was  not  so  easy  a  matter  as  they  had 


The  Little  Minister 


33 


imagined,  for  it  is  there  stated  that  he  was  settled  for  life, 
unless  he  forfeit  his  ministerial  character.  They  were  so  much 
chagrined  that  when  the  time  of  the  meeting  arrived,  only 
about  fifteen  of  their  party  attended,  and  there  were  about 
three  to  one  on  Father’s  side.  They  appeared  very  much 
ashamed,  and  slunk  away  in  silence,  and  probably  will  remain 
so  until  Satan  can  invent  something  new  for  them.”  It  may 
be  as  well  to  mention  here  that  this  contract  was  kept  and 
faithfully  performed  by  the  contracting  parties  until  1835,  a 
period  of  forty-five  years,  when  Mr.  Hill  voluntarily  released 
the  town*  from  an  obligation  that  had  become  irritating  to  so 
many  of  his  townsmen. 

In  1832  Rebecca  was  in  Exeter,  caring  for  the  home  of  her 
brother  Boynton.  The  younger  children  were  growing  up. 
Timothy  was  twelve  years  of  age.  Martha,  who  was  sixteen, 
was  attending  the  Academy  in  New  Ipswich.  Maria’s  hus¬ 
band,  Mr.  Pratt,  and  Josiah  Merriam,  Sally’s  husband,  looked 
after  the  farm  in  these  years.  The  latter  had  sold  his  farm  in 
Mason,  and  later  moved  to  Garland,  Maine.  In  the  fall  of 
1832  Adeliza  went  to  New  York  to  visit  her  brother  Stearns; 
and,  her  engagement  to  Benjamin  Wheeler  Merriam  having 
been  renewed,  she  married  him  on  the  fourth  of  April,  1833. 
I  do  not  find  a  record  of  the  marriage  in  Mason,  and  presume 
it  took  place  in  New  York. 

But  the  old  manse  was  not  deserted,  and  still  rang  with 
childish  voices.  Stearns’  oldest  boy,  Edward  Stearns  Hill,  Jr., 
and  Nabby’s  only  surviving  child,  Maria  Frances  Kimball, 
made  long  visits  to  their  grand-parents ;  and  Sally  and  Polly, 
living  near  at  hand,  and  each  with  a  full  hand  of  children, 
doubtless  contributed  to  the  youthful  life  in  the  mansion.  The 
New  York  families  began  to  come  on  in  the  summer. 

In  June  1834,  the  Little  Minister  and  his  wife  made  the 
journey  to  New  York  to  visit  their  children.  In  the  fall  of 
that  year  Martha  was  critically  ill ;  and  Stearns,  who  was  then 
visiting  there  with  his  family,  wrote  that  her  life  was  des¬ 
paired  of.  But  she  recovered. 


*His  pastoral  relation  to  the  church,  however,  was  never  dissolved 
until  his  death,  some  nineteen  years  later. 


34 


Ebenezer  Hill 


In  the  summer  of  that  year,  Timothy,  just  merging  into 
manhood,  bidding  fair  to  become  physically  the  largest  of  all 
(and  such  he  became),  and  of  such  “manliness”,  his  sister 
writes,  that  all  loved  him,  was  converted  and  joined  the 
church.  All  were  now  in  the  fold,  save  Martha,  and  she  was, 
the  next  year,  reported  to  be  “anxious”.  * 

I  have  a  letter  written  by  Boynton  to  his  partner  Apple- 
ton,  in  September,  1835,  that  is  rather  interesting  and  sugges¬ 
tive  of  the  conditions  of  that  day.  A  few  days  previous,  he 
had  started  from  Bangor,  where  he  was  then  located,  and 
traveling  “by  mail”,  as  he  expressed  it,  had  reached  Lowell, 
Mass.,  where  he  was  at  the  Merrimac  House.  He  writes 
“Judging  from  what  I  have  seen  thus  far,  it  is  the  prince  of 
hotels.  Nothing  in  Maine  is  fit  to  be  compared  with  it  for 
comfort  and  accommodation ;  and  few,  if  any,  can  show  a 
greater  list  of  entries.”  Two  days  later  he  writes  from  Bos¬ 
ton  :  “I  arrived  here  this  afternoon,  on  the  cars  from  Lowell. 
Of  this  mode  of  traveling  I  am  compelled  to  speak  well.  It 
is  indeed  admirable.  Nothing  has  so  nearly  realized  the  tales 
of  magic  as  the  application  of  steam.  I  pray  we  may  soon 
have  a  railroad  from  Bangor  to  Boston,  and  then  it  will  be 
but  an  excursion  of  pleasure  for  our  citizens  to  visit  this  place, 
— and  even  the  New  Jersey  peach  orchards  would  not  be  out 
of  reach  of  our  citizens.” — This  was  evidently  his  first  ride  on 
the  cars. 

In  the  fall  of  1835,  Sept.  10,  Maria,  who  had  married  Mr. 
Pratt  some  six  years  before,  died  after  a  short  illness.  About 
two  years  before,  Mar.  11,  1833,  she  had  lost  her  only  child,  a 
boy  a  little  over  two  years  of  age,  whom  she  had  named  Eben¬ 
ezer  Hill,  and  over  whom  she  had  prayed  that  he  might  become 
a  minister  like  his  grandfather. 


*Martha’s  daughter,  who  read  the  proof  sheets  of  this  Sketch,  reports 
that  her  Aunt  Rebecca  did  not  unite  with  the  church  until  March  5,  1866; 
and  that  it  was  said  that  she  then  “  ran  all  the  way  to  the  house  when  she 
went  to  present  herself  for  that  purpose,  ‘for  fear  she  would  change  her 
mind.’  The  reason,  I  doubt  not,  was  because  she  was  brought  up  on  a 
‘miserable  worm’  diet,  like  myself,  and  feared  she  was  not  truly  a  child  of 
God.  But  that  was  not  due  to  Grandfather’s  instruction  but  to  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  the  celebrated  Finney.” 


THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE 

In  which  the  Little  Minister  preached  47  years.  First  occupied  on  the 
day  of  his  ordination.  Dedicated  Nov.  26,  1  795. 


THE  NEW  MEETING-HOUSE 

Dedicated  in  1837.  In  this  building  the  Little  Minister  remained  Pastor 
for  17  years,  after  having  preached  47  years  in  the  Old  Meeting-House. 
In  the  later  years  the  work  was  increasingly  turned  over  to  colleagues. 


The  Little  Minister 


35 


The  children  of  the  Little  Minister  had  a  strong  affection 
for  their  father,  but  it  was  mingled  with  a  reverential  admira¬ 
tion  that  prevented  familiarity.  Neither  he  nor  they  ever  lost 
sight  of  his  sacred  calling.  He  was  now  (1835)  approaching 
the  ‘three  score  years  and  ten’.  His  daughter  Polly  writes  of 
him  at  that  time :  “Our  father  is  in  good  health  for  one  of  his 
years,  but  I  can  see  that  he  fails,  although  his  mental  faculties 
are  uncommon.  It  is  thought  that  he  preaches  better  as  he  grows 
older.”  But  he  himself  felt  that  the  church  would  be  more 
prosperous  under  a  younger  man.  He  called  a  public  meeting, 
and  reminded  his  people  that  he  was  growing  old,  expressed 
his  willingness  to  resign,  and  suggested  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  to  nominate  his  successor.  Such  a  committee  was 
appointed,  and  he  was  made  its  chairman.  He  remarked  to  a 
friend :  “I  wish  to  resign  my  pastoral  charge  now,  while  I  am 
in  full  possession  of  my  mental  faculties,  lest  in  remaining  longer 
they  become  so  impaired  that  I  may  be  unwilling  to  resign.” 

The  next  year  (1836)  the  Rev.  Andrew  Reed  was  secured 
as  his  colleague.  The  old  church  building  in  which  the  ordin¬ 
ation  services  had  taken  place  nearly  forty-seven  years  before, 
was  inconveniently  located  on  a  windy  hilltop,  and  was  no  longer 
suitable  for  the  church  services.  In  1837  the  present  church 
edifice  was  built  on  a  plot  of  ground  given  by  Mr.  Hill  for 
church  purposes.*  Thereafter,  although  he  had  a  colleague, 
our  Minister  did  not  stop  preaching.  Every  Sunday  found  him 
in  the  pulpit,  often  at  home,  but  more  frequently  in  other  towns, — 
in  Ashby,  in  Sharon,  and  more  than  elsewhere  in  Brookline, 
N.  H.,  where  he  carried  on  a  very  successful  campaign  of  church 
work. 

In  the  fall  of  1836  Boynton  came  from  Bangor,  Maine,  his 
then  home,  to  Mason,  and  was  there  very  ill.  He  later  writes  to 
his  sister  Rebecca  that  he  owed  his  life  to  her  devoted  care  and 
nursing.  She  afterwards  seems  to  have  developed  tuberculosis, 


*The  old  deed  is  among  our  papers.  Many  years  later  some 
thrifty  Yankee  undertook  to  convert  the  horsesheds  on  that  ground 
into  a  storage  warehouse,  but  Uncle  Boynton  stopped  that  proceed¬ 
ing  by  threatening  the  forfeiture  of  the  land,  if  diverted  from  church 
purposes. 


36 


Ebenezer  Hill 


and  for  several  years  was  an  invalid,  often  unable  to  leave  her 
chamber,  but  she  slowly  recovered  a  fair  degree  of  health. 

In  the  winter  of  1836-37,  Martha  taught  school  in  Jaffrey, 
N.  H.,  boarding  with  her  Aunt  Mary  Sylvania  (Jones)  Cutter, 
who,  she  writes,  “has  eight  boys,  one  named  Ebenezer  Ban¬ 
croft”.  The  following  April  she  went  to  New  York  City,  and 
spent  the  summer  with  her  sister  Adeliza. 

About  this  time  Stearns,  who  had  been  quite  successful  in 
his  business,  but  who  had  always  longed  for  a  life  in  the  coun¬ 
try,  sold  his  business,  and,  leaving  his  family  with  his  father-in- 
law  at  Milton,  made  a  trip  West  through  Illinois  and  South  as 
far  as  Tennessee,  where  he  visited  his  brothers,  Ebenezer  and 
Bancroft.  He  was  spying  out  the  land  for  a  good  location,  but 
he  came  back  with  the  report  that  it  was  not  so  roseate  as  it  had 
been  painted.  His  wife  was  opposed  to  going  West.  There  was 
now  a  need  of  someone  to  carry  on  the  farm  at  Mason.  Mr. 
Pratt  had  gone  to  New  York.  The  boy  Timothy  was  struggling 
to  prepare  for  college,  going  to  school  at  New  Ipswich  in  the 
fall  and  winter,  and  working  on  the  farm  between  times.  Stearns 
writes  to  Bancroft:  “I  have  not  yet  decided  where  to  locate 
myself.  Father  and  mother  wish  me  to  stay  in  Mason,  for  they 
do  not  feel  willing  to  leave  the  old  place ...  I  don’t  like  Mason, 
but  wish  to  follow  duty,  and  hope  it  will  be  made  plain  to  me.” 
It  was  apparently  made  plain  to  him  that  he  ought  to  go  to 
Mason.  In  November,  1837,  he  moved  thither  and  undertook 
the  management  of  the  farm.  He  did  not  live  in  the  mansion, 
but  hired  a  house  near  at  hand. 

The  new  meeting-house  was  finished ;  and  the  bell,  secured 
by  a  special  deputation  sent  to  Boston  for  it,  had  been  hung  and 
rung.  “It  is  the  wonder  of  the  town”,  writes  Rebecca.  Mr. 
Pratt  came  back  from  New  York,  moved  the  building  where  a 
store  had  been  kept  from  the  west  to  the  east  side  of  the  road 
(now  the  Thompson  house),  and  opened  a  country  store  in  it. 

The  next  season  (1838)  Stearns  moved  the  old  barn  from 
the  west  side  of  the  road  to  the  east  side,  placing  it  on  a  founda¬ 
tion  of  rocks  collected  in  enormous  quantities  from  all  over  the 
farm.  Martha  came  back  from  New  York.  In  August,  1838, 
Timothy  went  to  Hanover,  N.  H.,  and  entered  Dartmouth  Col¬ 
lege.  As  Stearns  had  undertaken  the  farm  work,  Timothy, 


The  Little  Minister 


37 


then  nineteen,  could  be  spared.  His  brother  Boynton  loaned  him 
the  needful  funds.  The  old  home  was  growing  more  quiet. 
Timothy  was  at  home  for  brief  visits  during  his  college  course, 
but  his  vacations  were  spent  in  teaching. 

In  1839  Martha  again  taught  school  in  Mason,  and  also  in 
Jaffrey.  That  same  year,  Bancroft,  after  sixteen  years  of 
absence,  came  from  Tennessee  to  visit  the  old  home.  For  some 
years  he  had  been  preaching  in  the  South.  He  preached  in  the 
new  meeting-house  at  Mason.  Mr.  Reed  desiring  to  leave,  the 
church  was  moved  to  invite  Bancroft  to  become  his  father’s 
colleague.  After  his  return  to  Tennessee,  a  formal  call  was  sent 
to  him.  He  accepted,  but  did  not  come  to  Mason  until  about 
June,  1840.  The  Little  Minister  was  still  active,  and  his  fellow 
townsmen  elected  him  their  representative  in  the  Legislature  in 
1839  and  again  in  1840. 

Stearns  carried  on  the  farm  for  two  years,  and  worked  hard 

but  it  did  not  pay.  He  lost  money.  In  1840  he  again  went  West, 

and  bought  a  tract  of  land  near  Peoria,  Illinois,  and  moved 
thither.  It  took  him  seventeen  days  (9th  to  26th  of  April)  to 
travel  with  his  family  from  New  York  to  Peoria,  and  his  goods 
which  went  by  way  of  New  Orleans  were  forty-six  days  in 
transit.  But,  he  says,  they  “had  a  very  pleasant  journey”,  “the 
scenery  most  of  the  way  delightful”,  and  his  chattels  “came  in 
good  order.”  He  bought  a  tract  of  land,  and  went  courageously 
to  work,  but  the  title  to  his  land  proved  defective.  He  lost  all 
he  paid  for  it,  and  early  in  1841  returned  to  New  York,  and 
opened  a  grocery  store  in  Brooklyn. 

Stearns  writes  of  the  West:  “My  disappointment  was  in 

not  finding  a  market  for  what  I  could  raise,  in  the  want  of 

schools  for  our  children,  and  the  want  of  society  and  the  com¬ 
forts  of  life  in  general.”  He  gives  a  very  interesting  sketch  of 
that  country  at  that  day — its  advantages:  rich  soil,  abundant 
crops,  easy  of  cultivation,  excellent  for  cattle;  and  its  disad¬ 
vantages  :  poor  market,  no  schools,  no  society,  chills  and  fever, 
mosquitoes  and  fleas.  He  had  lost  money  in  every  move ;  but 
with  optimistic  courage — one  of  his  many  excellent  traits  of 
character — he  writes:  “If  I  am  successful  in  my  present  busi¬ 
ness,  I  can  make  that  in  one  year,  and  support  my  family.” 

Mr.  Pratt,  who  had  undertaken  to  keep  a  store  in  Mason, 


38 


Ebenezer  Hill 


failed,  was  sold  out,  “lost  everything  but  honor,,>  and  coming 
to  the  old  mansion  took  charge  of  the  farm.  Martha  had  another 
term  at  New  Ipswich  Academy,  and  was  enthusiastic  in  her  Latin, 
particularly  in  her  study  of  Vergil.  Adeliza  came  on  in  the  sum¬ 
mer  with  her  family,  and  Boynton  frequently  visited  the  old 
home.  Bancroft — still  a  bachelor — lived  with  the  family.  He 
seems  to  have  been  very  successful  in  his  church  work  in  the 
beginning.  There  was  a  great  revival,  with  eighty  accessions 
to  the  church  in  1841.  Mr.  Pratt  still  carried  on  the  farm.  Our 
Minister,  having  established  the  Brookline  church,  and  secured 
for  it  a  pastor,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Goodwin,  was  preaching  in 
Sharon.  Martha  spent  the  winter  of  1841-42  in  New  York.  In 
April,  1842,  Edwin  R.  Hodgman,  of  the  class  of  1843  at  Dart¬ 
mouth,  was  at  the  Mason  home,  in  poor  health.  Stearns  was 
located  in  Brooklyn. 

In  1842  Timothy,  who  had  been  teaching  at  Townsend, 
graduated  from  Dartmouth.  He  came  home,  two  dollars  in  poc¬ 
ket,  and  remained  through  the  summer,  looking  for  employment. 
In  the  fall  he  went  to  New  York;  and,  boarding  with  his  brother 
Stearns  in  Brooklyn,  entered  Union  Theological  Seminary.  The 
following  summer  he  came  home  to  Mason.  The  Little  Minister 
was  then  preaching  in  Bennington,  N.  H.  Bancroft  was  in 
charge  of  the  Mason  church,  and  that  year  attended  the  Dart¬ 
mouth  commencement.  On  his  way  thither  he  visited  his 
aunts,  one  in  Stoddard  and  one  in  Alstead. 

In  the  fall  of  1843  Bancroft  went  West,  to  bring  home  from 
Illinois  his  nephew,  Samuel  Wheeler,  who  had  gone  to  pieces 
physically  and  financially.  Timothy  taught  school  in  Stoddard 
through  the  summer.  In  the  fall  he  returned  to  the  seminary 
in  New  York  City,  boarding  at  Mr.  Merriam’s  in  the  new  house* 
then  just  completed. 

In  1844  Mr.  Hodgman,  who  had  been  at  Andover  Theologi¬ 
cal  Seminary  transferred  himself  to  Union.  Martha  was  then 
living  with  her  sister  Adeliza.  Timothy,  having  a  room  in  the 
seminary  building,  was  (Nov.  29,  1844)  looking  forward  to  his 
graduation.  In  this  year  Stearns,  through  the  failure  of  a  for- 


*It  was  not  however  the  house  he  built  at  312  Fifth  Avenue,  which  was 
for  over  60  years  the  home  of  the  Merriam  family. 


FIVE.  OF  THE.  SIX  SONS 


EBENEZER 


BOYNTON 


BANCROFT 


STEARNS 


TIMOTHY 


An  effort  was  made  to  get  pictures  sFiowing  tFiese  brotFiers  at  somewFiere  near  tFie  same  age 


FOUR  OF  THL  LIGHT  DAUGHTERS 


POLLY 


SALLY 


ADLLIZA 


MARTHA 


No  pictures  of  the  otFier  four  daughters  have  been  made 


The  Little  Minister 


39 


mer  partner  to  meet  assumed  obligations,  failed  and  made  an 
assignment  for  the  benefit  of  creditors,  but  he  was  cheerful  and 
courageous. 

On  July  16,  1844,  occurred  the  meeting  at  the  old  mansion 
of  all  the  Little  Minister’s  children  then  living.  Ebenezer  (Ten¬ 
nessee),  Boynton  and  Sally  (Maine),  Stearns,  Adeliza  and  Tim¬ 
othy  (New  York),  Bancroft,  Polly,  Rebecca  and  Martha 
(Mason),  for  the  first  and  the  last  time  met  together.  Ebenezer 
had  gone  to  Troy,  New  York  before  the  younger  children,  Adel¬ 
iza,  Martha  and  Timothy,  were  born.  He  had  never  seen  them 
until  he  came  on  to  attend  that  meeting.  “We  are  all  here,”  writes 
Martha.  “All  this  side  of  the  spirit  land  are  now  congregated  un¬ 
der  their  father’s  roof,  to  spend  a  few  days  renewing  the  affec¬ 
tions  and  sympathies  of  home  .  .  .  There  is  something  in  the  at¬ 
mosphere  of  home  that  dissolves  all  formality.  The  man  of  fifty, 
alike  with  the  youngest  member  here  is  known  by  the  name  his 
mother  gave  him.  .  .  Our  house  resounds  with  the  sound  of  the 
viol,  the  merry  laugh  and  cheerful  voices.  .  .  When  we  are  all 
gathered  around  the  family  board,  my  father  sits  like  an  aged 
patriarch  at  the  head,  and  both  sides  are  lined  with  his  descen¬ 
dants  to  the  farther  end  of  the  room.”  Martha  says  of  Eben¬ 
ezer,  Jr.,  whom  she  had  never  seen:  “He  is  a  small,  dried-up, 
mummy-like  figure,  very  plain  and  simple  in  his  manners,  not 
at  all  like  Bancroft  or  any  of  the  rest.  But  I  like  him,  for  he  is 
kind,  amiable  and  affectionate.”  After  the  July  gathering  had 
separated,  the  old  mansion  at  Mason  was  unusually  quiet.  Of 
the  children  only  Bancroft  and  Rebecca  were  at  home.  A  hired 
man  carried  on  the  farm. 

Early  in  the  following  year  (1845)  there  are  rumors  that 
Bancroft  is  to  be  married.  Timothy  finishes  his  seminary  course, 
and  after  a  short  visit  home  in  August  and  September,  receives 
an  appointment  from,  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society, 
and  leaves  for  St.  Louis.  His  departure,  Sept.  28,  was  attended 
with  observances  that  give  us  an  indication  of  the  deeply  relig¬ 
ious  atmosphere  that  pervaded  that  household.  I  copy  from  an 
account  written  by  Martha:  “We  have  gathered  around  the 
family  altar,  as  we  were  wont  in  our  earliest  years.  My  father’s 
voice  was  unusually  tender,  solemn  and  earnest  as  he  commended 
‘our  son  and  brother’  to  a  Covenant-keeping  God,  asking  that, 


40 


Ebenezer  Hill 


if  it  was  consistent  with  His  will,  we  might  all  be  permitted  to 
meet  again  on  earth.  [His  prayer  was  granted.]  My  brother 
Timothy’s  simple  and  heartfelt  committal  of  himself  and  all  his 
friends  to  God  was  very  pleasant  to  the  soul.  Brother  Bancroft 
gave  thanks  for  the  special  goodness  of  God  as  exercised  to¬ 
ward  this  family  in  restraining,  guiding  and  directing  us  until 
we  reached  this  period  in  our  youngest  brother’s  history.  Edwin 
[Mr.  Hodgman]  prayed  fervently  for  His  blessing  and  guidance 
upon  him  in  all  his  wanderings.  Afterwards  we  sung  the  hymn 
‘Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds’,  in  St.  Thomas,  my  father’s  trembling 
voice  uniting  with  the  rest.  Brother  Timothy,  in  a  simple  and 
feeling  manner,  expressed  his  gratitude  to  father  and  mother 
for  their  kindness  and  faithfulness  to  their  wayward  boy.  It 
had  been  the  means  of  saving  him  from  ruin.  He  had  entered 
the  path  of  the  scorner,  but  soon  retraced  his  steps,  from  the 
thought  of  the  sorrow  it  would  bring  his  parents’  hearts.” 

Before  leaving  for  Missouri,  Timothy  attended  the  wedding 
ceremonies  of  the  marriage  of  Bancroft  to  Harriet  Brown  (Aug. 
26,  1845),  at  Antrim,  N.  H.  The  newly  wed  made  a  wedding 
journey  to  New  York,  and  then  came  back  to  the  old  manse  in 
Mason,  where  they  remained  for  a  few  months,  and  then  set 
up  housekeeping  in  a  nearby  dwelling. 

On  the  17th  of  September,  1846,  the  marriage  of  Martha 
to  the  Rev.  E.  R.  Hodgman  took  place  at  the  old  mansion. 
The  Little  Minister  performed  the  ceremony.  The  wedding 
guests  were  numerous.  After  a  trip  to  Maine,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hodgman  returned  to  Mason,  and  seem  to  have  remained 
there  for  a  year  or  two.  In  the  meantime  he  was  preaching 
around  the  country,  wherever  he  could  get  a  chance.  He  was 
not  successful  in  his  profession,  and  was  often  compelled  to 
seek  shelter  with  his  father-in-law.  On  Oct.  17,  1847,  his  first 
child,  named  Edwin  Ruthven  Hill  Hodgman,  was  born  at  Mason. 

In  1847,  and  again  in  1850,  1853  and  1854,  Timothy,  the 
youngest  son,  made  the  long  trip  back  from  Missouri  to  the 
old  home  to  visit  his  aged  parents.  After  his  father’s  death  he 
returned  in  1856  and  in  1857  to  see  his  mother.  On  the  first  of 
these  return  trips  he  visited  his  oldest  brother  Ebenezer  in 
Fayetteville,  Tenn.  His  niece,  Emily  A.  Hill,  an  attractive 
girl,  then  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  accompanied  him  from 


The  Little  Minister 


4i 


Fayetteville  to  Mason,  and  remained  with  her  grandfather  a 
year  or  more;  but  coming  from  her  father’s  large  family,  in 
the  genial  climate  and  fertile  fields  of  Middle  Tennessee,  she 
was  terribly  homesick. 

In  January,  1847,  the  church  people  gave  a  donation 
party  to  their  senior  pastor.  Address,  response,  prayer,  sing¬ 
ing  of  hymns,  and  Scripture  reading  made  up  the  exercises. 
About  this  time,  the  location  of  the  new  meeting  house,  that 
had  been  dedicated  about  ten  years  before,  began  to  cause 
great  dissatisfaction.  The  little  mill  that  had  been  construc¬ 
ted  on  the  Souhegan  River  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  the 
town,  some  ninety  years  before,  had  been  multiplied,  and  new 
mills  erected  until  a  thriving  village — first  called  The  Harbor, 
then  Souhegan  Village,  then  Mason  Village,  now  Greenville — 
had  grown  up  about  them.  The  accessions  to  the  church  had 
come  so  largely  from  that  village  that  a  majority  of  the  mem¬ 
bers  were  its  inhabitants.  They  became  very  tired  of  climb¬ 
ing  over  the  hill,  two  and  a  half  miles,  to  attend  church  ser¬ 
vices,  and  demanded  a  change.  They  even  discussed  the  feasi¬ 
bility  of  moving  the  meeting-house  to  the  village.  Such  re¬ 
moval  not  being  practicable,  the  village  members  determined  to 
withdraw  and  establish  a  church  by  themselves.  This  they 
accomplished  in  1847.  The  same  year  (April  22,  1847)  Ban¬ 
croft  resigned  the  junior  pastorate,  and  a  few  months  later 
moved  to  Colebrook,  N.  H. 

But  these  things  did  not  trouble  our  Minister.  About 
1846  he  began  to  fail  in  body  and  mind.  There  was  no  sudden 
breakdown,  but  he  was  eighty  years  of  age.  He  slowly  grew 
feebler  until  he  reached  the  end.  The  closing  years  were  years 
of  quiet  peace.  In  the  summer  season,  children  and  grand¬ 
children  visited  the  old  home. 

In  1852,  after  a  visit  to  Mason,  Bancroft  writes  to  Tim¬ 
othy  of  his  father,  then  eighty-six  years  old,  “He  passes  much 
of  his  time  in  a  dozy,  rather  than  a  lethargic  condition ;  but 
his  condition  of  mind  and  body  partake  so  much  of  lethargy 
that  he  is  spared  those  painful  emotions  that  would  be  so  un¬ 
pleasant  to  one  of  his  active  and  independent  temperament, 
had  he  the  power  to  see  and  contemplate  the  wreck  of  what 
he  once  was  .  .  .  Mother  fails,  I  think,  quite  as  rapidly  as 


42 


Ebenezer  Hill 


father  did  at  her  age,  and  is,  in  some  respects,  quite  as  insen¬ 
sible  of  her  failure.  Boynton  exercises  a  watchful  care  over 
their  interests,  personal  and  pecuniary,  which  may  set  all  our 
minds  at  rest  with  respect  to  these  interests,  so  far  as  they  can 
be  made  safe  and  agreeable  by  the  ability  of  a  child  anxious 
to  secure  the  welfare  of  parents  fast  sinking  into  the  vale  of 
imbecdity.  Rebecca  has  bared  her  shoulders  to  the  burdens 
which  have  fallen  upon  her — burdens  of  no  ordinary  weight, 
which  she  bears  with  a  self-denial,  readiness  and  cheerfulness 
worthy  of  all  praise,  and  with  an  ability  far  beyond  what  we 
could  have  expected.  She  appears  to  feel  that  she  is  in  the 
line  of  duty, — that  it  is  for  this  that  she  has  been  spared  in 
health  and  strength,  and  that  in  the  performance  of  that  duty 
she  is  saved  from  a  lonesome  and  solitary  condition.  She  is 
freed  from  cares  of  a  domestic  character  that  she  may  devote 
all  her  time  and  energy  to  the  care  of  her  parents.” 

I  remember,  about  1852,  the  Little  Minister  as  a  totter¬ 
ing  old  man,  his  gray  hair  neatly  braided  into  a  queue,  clothed 
in  a  luxurious  dressing  robe  (a  gift  from  Adeliza),  every  step 
that  he  took  carefully  watched  by  Aunt  Rebecca.  And  they 
wrote  of  him :  “He  yields  slowly,  inch  by  inch,  but  calmly, 
quietly  and  submissively.  I  have  never  heard  the  least  mur¬ 
mur  or  complaint  fall  from  his  lips.”  Thus  he  went  down, 
until,  on  May  20,  1854,  the  end  came. 

A  few  days  before — April  24,  1854 — Martha,  after  a  mar¬ 
ried  life  of  about  seven  and  a  half  years  of  hardship  and  suf¬ 
fering,  died  at  Lunenburg,  Mass.,  where  her  husband  was  then 
preaching.  Her  remains  were  brought  home  and  buried  in  the 
old  Mason  Cemetery. 

Rebecca  was  left  alone  with  her  aged  mother;  but  soon 
after,  Edwin  and  Harriet  Hodgman,  Martha’s  children,  were 
brought  to  the  old  manse,  and  there  found  a  home,  and  in 
their  Aunt  Rebecca  a  mother’s  care  and  nurture,  until  they 
reached  their  maturity.  Their  old  Grandmother  Abigail  Jones 
Hill  lingered  on,  in  quiet,  peaceful  helplessness,  until  April  26, 
1859,  when  she  followed  her  husband. 

About  1860  Boynton,  who  had  for  many  years  been  the 
support  of  the  family,  closed  his  business  in  Bangor,  and  took 
up  his  residence  in  the  old  mansion.  He  brought  with  him  his 


THE  AGED  TWINS 

Polly  and  Sally  Hill  were  so  much  alike  that  often  even 
their  own  children  could  not  tell  them  apart 


NEARING  LIFE’S  END 

The  Little  Minister  and  his  third  wife  lived  happily 
together  nearly  fifty-five  years 


The  Little  Minister 


43 


library,  and  filled  the  house  with  books  and  papers.  It  became 
the  home  of  a  retired  scholar,  but  not  of  a  recluse  or  an  ascetic. 
Fond  of  the  pleasures  of  the  table  (leaving  out  all  alcoholic 
drinks),  his  life  at  Bangor — ease  and  good  living  combined — 
had  developed  a  tendency  to  obesity.  Short  in  stature,  he  be¬ 
came  excessively  fat.  It  was  “horrible”,  he  said.  His  physi¬ 
cians  warned  him  of  apoplexy.  With  characteristic  energy 
and  decision,  he  sold  his  business,  moved  to  Mason,  accepted 
the  plain  fare  of  a  country  farmhouse,  drank  tea  like  a  Rus¬ 
sian,  dug  and  spaded  his  garden,  and  worked  on  the  woodpile, 
until  he  had  worked  off  some  thirty  to  forty  pounds  of  his 
corpulence.  Thereafter  he  so  regulated  his  exercise  and  diet 
as  to  hold  it  down.  The  daily  papers  kept  up  his  interest  in 
the  outside  world.  For  mental  recreation  he  delved  into  the 
classics.  If  at  night  he  could  not  sleep,  he  lighted  his  bedside 
candle,  and  from  some  volume  in  the  original,  placed  on  the 
stand  for  such  an  emergency,  he  summoned  for  company  the 
old  Greek  heroes,  or  found  pleasure  in  the  wit  and  humor  of 
his  favorite  Horace.  He  was  a  favorite  with  his  nephews  and 
nieces,  though  the  most  of  them  were  rather  in  awe  of  him,  be¬ 
cause  of  his  learning  and  of  his  quick  manner  of  acting  and 
speaking.  He  instructed  some  of  them  in  their  preparations 
for  college.  He  was  hospitable,  warm-hearted,  fond  of  good 
company, — and  there  were  many  visitors  at  his  table. 

Thus  life  went  on  in  the  old  manse  until  April  9,  1883, 
when  the  death  of  Rebecca  ended  a  life  of  devoted  unselfish 
service  of  others.  She  was  a  noble  woman,  aristocratic  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word,  fond  of  her  family,  deeply  religious, 
with  strong  affections,  a  keen  sense  of  humor  and  a  great  in¬ 
terest  in  public  affairs. 

After  the  death  of  Rebecca,  Boynton  remained  in  the  old 
home  with  his  niece  Hattie  Hodgman  until  1884,  when,  the 
latter  having  determined  to  leave  Mason,  he  removed  to  Tem¬ 
ple.  With  his  departure,  the  life  of  the  Little  Minister  and 
his  family  in  the  old  home  was  ended. 


44 


Ebenezer  Hill 


H.  S. 

REV.  EBENEZER  HILL 

BORN  IN  CAMBRIDGE,  JAN.  31,  1766. 

GRADUATED  AT  HARVARD  COLLEGE,  1786. 

ORDAINED  PASTOR  OF  THE  CHURCH 
AND  MINISTER  OF  THE  TOWN  OF  MASON 

NOVEMBER  3,  1790. 

DIED  MAY  20,  1854,  IN  THE  89th  YEAR  OF  HIS 
AGE,  AND  THE  64th  OF  HIS  MINISTRY. 

A  FAITHFUL  SERVANT,  HE  DEVOTED  HIS 
TIME  AND  STRENGTH  TO  THE  WORK  OF  HIS 
LORD  AND  MASTER;  READY  AT  ALL  TIMES 
TO  DIRECT  THE  ENQUIRING,  TO  CHEER  THE 
DOUBTING,  TO  WARN  THE  SINFUL,  TO  VISIT  THE 
SICK  AND  AFFLICTED,  AND  OFFER  TO  THEM 
THE  COMFORT  AND  SUPPORT  OF  RELIGION; 
AFTER  A  LONG  LIFE  OF  USEFULNESS,  HE 
DEPARTED  IN  PEACE,  HUMBLY  TRUSTING  TO 
RECEIVE  THE  WELCOME  MESSAGE,  WELL  DONE 
GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL  SERVANT,  ENTER  THOU 
INTO  THE  JOY  OF  THY  LORD. 

HIS  CHURCH  AND  PEOPLE  DEVOTE  THIS 
TABLET  TO  HIS  MEMORY. 


The  Little  Minister’s  epitaph  on  a  marble  tablet  inserted  in  a  granite 
monument,  in  the  cemetery  at  Mason,  N.  H. 


The  Family  of  Ebenezer  Hill: 

THE  LITTLE  MINISTER  OF  MASON 


Genealogical  Notes  by  his  Grandson,  JOHN  B.  HILL 

FIRST  GENERATION 

1.  The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hill,  (son  of  Samuel  Hill  and 
Sarah  Cutler),  b.  Jan.  31,  1766,  Cambridge,  Mass.;  d.  May 
20,  1854,  Mason,  N.  H.,  aged  88  years,  3  months  and  20 
days;  grad.  Harvard  College,  A.B.,  1786,  A.M.,  1789;  taught 
in  Westford,  Mass.,  1786-88;  studied  theology  under  the 
Rev.  Seth  Payson,  Rindge,  N.  H. ;  licensed  by  a  Congregation¬ 
al  Association,  Oct.  28,  1788,  Ashburnham,  Mass. ;  ordained, 
Nov.  3,  1790,  Mason,  N.  H.,  where  he  remained  pastor  nearly 
64  years;  trustee  of  Appleton  Academy,  New  Ipswich,  N.  H., 
1813-30,  and  sometime  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees; 
representative  in  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature,  1839  and 
1840,  declining  reelection ;  Chaplain  of  the  House ;  published 
12  sermons,  and  two  lectures  on  the  History  of  Mason. 

Ebenezer  Hill  married,  1st,  Feb.  2,  1791,  Townsend, 
Mass.,  Mary  Boynton  (dau.  of  Nathaniel  Boynton  and  Re¬ 
becca  Barrett),  b.  Mar.  26,  1765,  Westford,  Mass.;  d.  Mar. 
2,  1794,  Mason,  N.  H.,  aged  28  years,  11  months,  6  days. 
Children,  Nos.  2-4,  below. 

Ebenezer  Hill  married,  2nd,  Nov.  18,  1795,  Nashua,  N. 
H.,  Rebecca  (Bancroft)  Howard  (dau.  of  Col.  Ebenezer  Ban¬ 
croft  and  Susannah  Fletcher),  b.  Mar.  5,  1771,  Tyngsboro, 
Mass.;  d.  July  12,  1797,  Mason,  N.  H.,  aged  26  years,  4 
months,  7  days.  She  m.  1st,  Jan.  6,  1790,  Samuel  Howard, 
of  Chelmsford,  Mass.,  who  d.  May,  1790.  They  had  one 
child,  Rebecca  Howard,  b.  Oct.  25,  1790;  d.  Aug.  25,  1793, 
Tyngsboro,  Mass.  Two  children  by  her  second  marriage, 
Nos.  5-6. 

Ebenezer  Hill  married,  3d,  Sept.  22,  1799,  Bedford,  Mass., 
Abigail  (Jones)  Stearns  (dau.  of  Col.  Timothy  Jones  and 
Rebecca  Bateman),  b.  Oct.  12,  1771,  Bedford,  Mass.;  d.  Apr. 
26,  1859,  Mason,  N.  H.,  aged  87  years,  6  months,  14  days. 
She  married,  1st,  Jan.  1,  1798,  Bedford,  Lt.  Edward  Stearns, 
Jr.,  (b.  June  25,  1768;  d.  May  17,  1798),  who  had  married, 
1st,  her  sister,  Polly  Jones,  (b.  Nov.  17,  1769;  d.  June  28, 
1796,  having  had  one  child,  Edward  Stearns,  3d,  who  d.  Feb. 


48 


Ebenezer  Hill 


1796).  Nine  children  by  Abigail’s  second  marriage,  Nos. 
7-15. 

All  descendants  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hill  can  claim 
membership  in  Revolutionary  Societies,  through  the  services 
of  their  ancestor  Samuel  Hill,  who  was  a  private  soldier  in 
the  Revolution,  from  1776  to  1783.  Nathaniel  Boynton, 
father  of  the  first  wife  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hill,  was  fifty- 
three  years  old  when  the  Revolution  began,  and  apparently 
never  served  as  a  soldier.  Ebenezer  Bancroft  was  wounded 
at  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  He  had  been  commissioned 
as  Ensign  in  1757,  and  became  Lieutenant  Colonel  in  1781. 
Timothy  Jones  was  a  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Lexington 
Alarm,  1775;  First  Lieutenant,  1781;  Captain,  1787;  Lt.  Col., 
1792.  Membership  in  various  Colonial  Societies,  can  also 
be  claimed  by  all  Hill  descendants  based  upon  patriotic 
service  of  several  ancestors  in  each  line. 

SECOND  GENERATION:  CHILDREN  OF  THE 
REV.  EBENEZER  HILL: 

2.  Ebenezer  Hill,  Jr.,  b.  Oct.  14,  1791,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d. 
May  16,  1875,  Manchester,  Tenn.,  aged  83  years,  7  months, 
2  days;  printer,  in  Amherst  and  Nashua,  N.  H.,  and  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  1807-19;  and  in  Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Tennessee, 
1819-75;  also  farmer  in  Tennessee;  published,  1825-62,  Hill's 
Almanac,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Hill.  He  married, 
Feb.  12,  1824,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.,  Mary  Tate  Bryan  (dau. 
of  James  Bryan  and  Elizabeth  Neely),  b.  Feb.  26,  1799, 
Pendleton,  S.  C. ;  d.  Apr.  18,  1871,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.  Eight 
children,  16-23. 

3.  Polly  Hill  (twin  to  Sally),  b.  Jan.  13,  1793,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Mar.  3,  1881,  New  York  City,  aged  88  years,  1 
month,  20  days.  She  married,  Jan.  17,  1813,  Mason,  N.  H., 
Timothy  Wheeler,  (son  of  Timothy  Wheeler  and  Sarah 
Hubbard),  b.  Jan.  16,  1783,  Concord,  Mass.;  d.  Jan.  21,  1854, 
Mason;  a  farmer  in  Mason.  Eleven  children,  24-34. 

4.  Sally  Hill  (twin  to  Polly),  b.  Jan.  13,  1793,  Mason. 
N.  H.;  d.  Nov.  5,  1880,  Garland,  Maine,  aged  87  years,  9 
months,  22  days.  She  married,  Oct.  10,  1813,  Mason,  N.  H., 
Josiah  Merriam  (son  of  Ezra  Merriam  and  Susannah  Eliot), 
b.  Apr.  19,  1790,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d.  Aug.  17,  1876,  Garland, 
Me. ;  blacksmith  and  farmer,  Mason,  N.  H.,  Exeter  and  Gar¬ 
land,  Me. ;  deacon  in  Congregational  church.  Seven  chil¬ 
dren,  35-41. 

5.  John  Boynton  Hill,  (twin  to  Joseph  Bancroft),  b. 
Nov.  25,  1796,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d.  May  2,  1886,  Temple,  N.  H., 


Genealogy 


49 


aged  89  years,  5  months,  7  days ;  grad.  Appleton  Academy, 
New  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  1817,  and  Harvard  College,  1821,  Phi 
Beta  Kappa;  teacher  in  Garrison  Forest  Academy,  near  Bal¬ 
timore,  Md.,  1821-23;  admitted  to  bar,  Oct.  7,  1826,  Hills¬ 
boro,  N.  H.;  lawyer,  Nashua,  N.  H.,  Townsend,  Mass.,  Exeter, 
Me.,  and  Bangor,  Me. ;  in  Maine  Legislature,  1853-55, 
speaker,  1855;  retired  to  Mason,  N.  H.,  1862,  and  to  Temple, 
N.  H.,  1884;  author  of  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hill , 
1858;  History  of  Mason ,  N.  H.,  1858;  The  Mason  Centennial , 
1868;  and  Reminiscences  of  Old  Dunstable ,  1878,  all  of  which 
contain  valuable  historical  and  genealogical  information 
bearing  upon  the  Ebenezer  Hill  and  allied  families.  He 
married,  Aug.  10,  1829,  Hollis,  N.  H.,  Achsah  Parker  (dau. 
of  Capt.  Isaac  Parker  and  Olive  Abbott),  b.  June  24,  1799, 
Hollis,  N.  H.;  d.  May  6,  1831,  Exeter,  Me.  One  child,  42. 

6.  Rev.  Joseph  Bancroft  Hill  (twin  to  John  Boynton), 
b.  Nov.  25,  1796,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d.  June  16,  1864,  Chattanooga, 
Tenn.,  aged  67  years,  6  months  and  21  days;  grad.  Apple- 
ton  Academy,  New  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  1817,  and  at  Harvard 
College,  1821,  Phi  Beta  Kappa;  teacher,  Weston  and  Mil- 
ton,  Mass.,  and  at  Garrison  Forest  Academy,  near  Baltimore, 
Md. ;  admitted  to  Tennessee  Bar,  Sept.  19,  1828;  ordained, 
Cumberland  Presbyterian,  about  1830,  evangelist  in  the 
South,  1830-40;  colleague-pastor  with  his  father  in  the  Con¬ 
gregational  church,  Mason,  N.  H.,  1841-47 ;  pastor,  Cole- 
brook,  N.  H.,  1847-57;  pastor,  West  Stewartstown,  N.  H., 
1857-62;  school  commissioner  of  Coos  County,  N.  H. ;  re¬ 
moved  to  Temple,  N.  H.,  1862;  agent  of  U.  S.  Christian  Com¬ 
mission,  1864,  until  his  death  by  a  railroad  accident,  while 
caring  for  wounded  soldiers;  edited  Hill’s  Almanac ,  (pub¬ 
lished  by  his  brother,  Ebenezer),  1825-52;  also  a  hymnbook 
and  other  religious  literature.  A  Brief  Memoir  of  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Bancroft  Hill,  by  E.  R.  Hodgman,  was  published  in 
1868.  He  married,  Aug.  26,  1845,  Antrim,  N.  H.,  Harriet 
Brown  (dau.  of  Capt.  Isaac  Brown  and  Sarah  Flagg),  b. 
June  20,  1819,  Antrim,  N.  H.;  d.  Mar.  18,  1910,  Temple, 
N.  H.  Six  children,  43-48. 

7.  Edward  Stearns  Hill,  b.  July  19,  1800,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Mar.  24,  1874,  Rosemond,  Ill.,  aged  73  years,  8  months, 
5  days;  student  at  academy,  Londonderry,  N.  H. ;  taught  at 
Londonderry  and  Merrimac,  N.  H.,  and  Milton  and  Bedford, 
Mass.;  merchant  in  New  York  City  and  Brooklyn,  1824-37 
and  1842-57 ;  farmer,  Mason,  N.  H.,  1837-40,  Peoria,  Ill., 
1840-42,  and  Rosemond,  Ill.,  1857-74.  Married,  June  28,  1827, 
Milton,  Mass.,  Catharine  Houghton  (dau.  of  Jason  Hough¬ 
ton  and  Catharine  Wilde),  b.  Oct.  4,  1806,  Milton,  Mass.;  d. 


50 


Ebenezer  Hill 


June  20,  1892,  Oconto,  Wis.  Seven  children,  49-55. 

8.  Rebekah*  Howard  Hill,  b.  Mar.  13,  1802,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Apr.  9,  1883,  Mason,  aged  81  years,  26  days.  She 
never  married,  but  spent  her  whole  life  at  the  old  home, 
caring  for  her  aged  parents  and  others. 

9.  Abigail  Jones  Hill,  b.  Apr.  7,  1804,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Sept.  9,  1829,  Fitzwilliam,  N.  H.,  aged  25  years,  7  months, 
2  days.  She  married,  June  2,  1825,  Mason,  N.  H.,  John 
Kimball  (son  of  Isaac  Kimball  and  Sally  Cutter),  b.  Dec. 
17,  1798,  Temple,  N.  H.;  d.  May  7,  1866,  Fitzwilliam,  N.  H.; 
blacksmith  and  toolmaker.  He  married,  2d,  Jan.  24,  1831, 
Fitzwilliam,  N.  H.,  Jane  Sophronia  Richardson,  1802-91.  Two 
children,  56-57,  by  first  wife,  and  four  by  second  wife. 

10.  Maria  Hill,  b.  Dec.  14,  1806,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d.  Sept. 
10,  1835,  Mason,  N.  H.,  aged  28  years,  8  months,  26  days. 
She  married,  June  4,  1829,  Mason,  N.  H.,  Oliver  Hosmer 
Pratt  (son  of  Benanuel  Pratt  and  Lucy  Hosmer),  b.  May  17, 
1802;  merchant  and  farmer,  Mason,  N.  H.,  and  cooper, 
Townsend,  Mass.;  deacon  in  Mason  Church;  member  of  N.  H. 
Legislature  six  terms.  He  m.  2d,  May  6,  1841,  Mason,  N.  H., 
Catharine  Warner,  of  Groton,  Mass.,  who  d.  Mar.  4,  1860.  He 

m.  3d, - ,  Ruth  Warner,  (cousin  of  the  second  wife).  One 

child  by  first  marriage,  No.  58;  one  child  by  second  marriage, 
died  young. 

11.  Timothy  Jones  Hill,  b.  Mar.  15,  1808,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  July  8,  1810,  aged  2  years,  3  months,  23  days. 

12.  Lucy  Sylvania  Hill,  b.  June  14,  1810,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Aug.  13,  1827,  New  York  City,  aged  17  years,  1  month, 
29  days. 

13.  Adeliza  Hill,  b.  July  9,  1812,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d. 
June  14,  1881,  New  York  City,  aged  68  years,  11  months,  5 

days.  She  married,  Apr.  4,  1833,  - ,  Benjamin  Wheeler 

Merriam  (son  of  Samuel  Merriam  and  Lucy  Wheeler),  b. 
May  8,  1803,  Mason,  N.  H. ;  d.  Apr.  24,  1884,  New  York  City; 
manufacturer  and  dealer  in  mirrors,  New  York.  Eight  chil¬ 
dren,  59-66. 

14.  Martha  Hill,  b.  Oct.  31,  1816,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d. 
May  2,  1854,  Lunenburg,  Mass.,  aged  37  years,  6  months,  2 
days.  She  married,  Sept.  17,  1846,  Mason  N.  H.,  Rev.  Ed¬ 
win  Ruthven  Hodgman  (son  of  Buckley  Hodgman  and  Betsy 
Pratt),  b.  Oct.  21,  1819,  Camden,  Me.;  d.  June  1,  1900, 
Townsend,  Mass.;  studied  at  Amherst  College  one  year, 
and  Dartmouth  College,  A.B.,  1843,  and  at  Union  Theologi¬ 
cal  Seminary  and  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  1846;  or- 

*She  always  used  the  spelling  “Rebekah — the  only  way  the  Bible 
spelled  it.” 


Genealogy 


5i 


dained,  Congregational,  May  17,  1849,  Orfordville,  N.  H.;  sup¬ 
plied  churches  in  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts;  Town 
Clerk  of  Westford,  Mass.;  nine  years  Superintendent  of 
Schools;  author  of  A  Brief  Memoir  of  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Hill, 
and  of  the  History  of  Westford.  He  m.  2d,  Jan.  5,  1856,  Abbie 
Pollard  Simonds,  who  d.  June  21,  1881.  Four  children  by 
first  wife,  67-70,  and  one  (d.  young)  by  the  second  wife. 

15.  Rev.  Timothy  Hill,  D.D.,  b.  June  30,  1819,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  May  21,  1887,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  aged  67  years  10 
months,  21  days ;  educated  at  Appleton  Academy,  1838,  Dart¬ 
mouth  College,  1842,  and  Union  Theological  Seminary,  1845 ; 
D.D.,  Highland  University,  Kan.,  1873;  taught  in  N.  H., 
Mass.,  and  Mo.;  licensed  by  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New 
York,  Apr.  18,  1845;  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Louis, 
Oct.  22,  1846;  supplied  churches  in  Monroe  County,  Mo., 
1845-46,  St.  Charles,  Mo.,  1846-51,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  1851-60, 
Rosemond,  Ill.,  1861-63,  Shelbyville,  Ill.,  1863-65 ;  organized 
Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  and  sup¬ 
plied  it,  1865-68;  superintendent  of  Home  Missions  in  Synod 
of  Missouri,  1860,  and  in  Missouri,  Kansas,  Indian  Terri¬ 
tory  and  Texas,  1868-87;  moderator  of  Synod  of  Missouri 
four  times ;  frequent  contributor  to  the  religious  press,  and 
author  of  many  historical  sermons  and  addresses ;  living  in 
Kansas  City,  Mo.,  1865-87.  Copies  of  a  large  typewritten 
memorial  volume — Timothy  Hill  and  Western  Presbyterian¬ 
ism ,  by  his  son,  John  B.  Hill  (1923) — are  to  be  deposited  in 
the  libraries  of  Union  Theological  Seminary  and  certain 
Historical  Societies.  He  married,  Nov.  2,  1854,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Frances  Augusta  Hall  (dau.  of  Lewis  Hall  and  Mary  Cory), 
b.  Aug.  26,  1821,  Westtown,  N.  Y. ;  d.  Jan.  29,  1907,  Kansas 
City,  Mo. ;  educated  in  N.  Y.  City,  and  under  Mary  Lyon 
in  Mt.  Holyoke  Female  Seminary;  taught  in  New  York, 
Miss.,  and  Mo.,  1843-54.  Four  children,  71-74. 

THIRD  GENERATION:  GRANDCHILDREN  OF  THE 

REV.  EBENEZER  HILL 

III.  Children  of  Ebenezer  Hill,  Jr.,  No.  2. 

16.  Elizabeth  Mary  Hill,  b.  Jan.  13,  1825,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn. ;  d.  Mar.  21,  1892,  Fayetteville,  unmarried. 

17.  Ebenezer  Hill,  3d,  b.  Apr.  8,  1826,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.;  d.  June  19,  1898,  Elora,  Tenn.;  printer,  Fayetteville; 
music  dealer,  Kelso,  Tenn.  He  married,  May  20,  1856,  Ruth 
Ann  Gregory  (dau.  of  Tunstall  and  Elizabeth),  b.  Nov.  14, 
1827,  Lincoln  County,  Tenn.;  d.  July  18,  1886,  Flintville, 
Tenn.  Four  children,  75-78. 


52 


Ebenezer  Hill 


18.  (Daughter)  b.  and  d.  Sept.  25,  1827,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn. 

19.  Emily  Ann  Hill,  b.  Nov.  21,  1828,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.;  d.  Mar.  30,  1892,  Manchester,  Tenn.  She  m.  Sept.  21, 
1869,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.,  James  Edwin  Hough,  M.D.,  (son 
of  Ephraim  and  Jerusha),  b.  Oct.  26,  1824,  Hamptonville, 
N.  C. ;  d.  May,  1893;  physician,  druggist  and  merchant,  Man¬ 
chester,  Tenn.  No  children  by  this  marriage,  four  by  a  for¬ 
mer  one.  The  wives  were  cousins. 

20.  Edward  Stearns  Hill,  b.  July  22,  1830,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.;  d.  Sept.  25,  1833,  Jackson,  Miss. 

21.  James  Bryan  Hill,  b.  June  6,  1832,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.;  d.  Mar.  29,  1892,  Fayetteville;  daguerreotyper,  jewel¬ 
er,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.;  served  in  41st  Tennessee  regiment, 
Confederate.  He  m.  Nov.  26,  1868,  Fayetteville,  Maggie 
Collins  Bearden  (dau.  of  Alfred  Bearden  and  Maggie  Down¬ 
ing),  b.  June  11,  1848,  Lincoln  County,  Tenn.;  d.  Aug.  12, 
1886,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.  Five  children,  79-83. 

22.  Sarah  Catharine  Houghton  Hill,  b.  Dec.  22,  1835, 
Fayetteville,  Tenn.;  d.  July  15,  1861. 

23.  William  Joseph  Hill,  b.  Apr.  11,  1838,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.;  d.  July  23,  1917,  Old  Soldiers’  Home,  Nashville, 
Tenn.;  farmer,  near  Fayetteville;  Confederate  soldier,  badly 
wounded  at  Chickamauga.  He  m.  Sept.  17,  1873,  Fayette¬ 
ville,  Maggie  Tabitha  Eldridge  (dau.  of  Bowlin  and  Susan), 
b.  June  22,  1856,  Fayetteville.  Five  children,  84-88. 

.  III.  Children  of  Polly  Hill,  No.  3. 

24.  Samuel  Hubbard  Wheeler,  b.  Oct.  20,  1813,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Mar.,  1889,  Mason;  farmer;  served  in  Co.  C.,  16th 
N.  H.  Inf.,  1862-63.  He  m.  1st,  June  9,  1845,  Mason,  N.  H., 
Mary  Ames  (dau.  of  Joel  and  Sally),  b.  Dec.  18,  1814,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Mar.  4,  1860;  four  children,  89-92.  He  m.  2d,  Nov. 
11,  1862,  Sophia  Augusta  Campbell  (dau.  of  Henry  Camp¬ 
bell  and  Sophia  Lund),  b.  May  22,  1828,  New  Boston,  N.  H.; 
d.  June  20,  1913;  two  children,  93-94. 

25.  Ebenezer  Wheeler,  b.  Aug.  7,  1815,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Nov.  17,  1842,  near  Naples,  Ill.;  engineer,  killed  by 
machinery  of  his  boat  on  Illinois  River.  He  m.  July  27, 
1840,  Warsaw,  Ill.,  Maria  Magoon.  Widow  lived  at  Musca¬ 
tine,  Iowa.  One  child,  95. 

26.  William  Wheeler,  b.  Dec.  20,  1818,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Oct.  5,  1822. 

27.  Mary  Wheeler,  b.  Feb.  12,  1820,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d. 
Oct.  7,  1822. 

28.  Timothy  Wheeler,  b.  May  9,  1822,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Aug.  15,  1824. 


Genealogy 


53 


29.  Timothy  Wheeler,  b.  Aug.  17,  1824,  Mason,  N.  H. ; 
d.  Feb.  13,  1894,  Cambridge,  Mass.;  pianomaker  (foreman), 
Winchester,  Mass.,  and  Deep  River,  Conn.  He  m.  1st,  Nov. 
27,  1845,  Mason,  N.  H.,  Ann  Maria  Harding,  b.  Oct.  5,  1824, 
Attleboro,  Mass.;  d.  Dec.  6,  1860,  Winchester.  Five  chil¬ 
dren,  96-100.  He  m.  2d,  Feb.  20,  1862,  Woburn,  Mass.,  Eliza 
Ann  King,  b.  May  15,  1834,  Plymouth,  Mass.;  d.  Mar.  22, 
1917,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Six  children,  101-106. 

30.  William  Wheeler,  b.  May  19,  1827,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Oct.  10,  1852,  Mason,  N.  H.;  farmer,  Mason,  N.  H.  He 
m.  Dec.  18,  1848,  Mason,  N.  H.,  Sarah  Caroline  Merriam 
(dau.  of  Elisha  Jones  Merriam  and  Lucy  Rebecca  Lane), 
b.  July  23,  1830,  Mason,  N.  H.;  d.  June  22,  1853.  Two  chil¬ 
dren,  107-108. 

31.  Edward  Boynton  Wheeler,  b.  Mar.  20,  1829,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  May  9,  1854,  Mason,  N.  H. 

32.  Joseph  Bancroft  Wheeler,  b.  Sept.  26,  1831,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Feb.  24,  1853. 

33.  Abbie  Maria  Wheeler,  b.  Aug.  13,  1837,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Apr.  12,  1870,  Mason,  N.  H.  She  m.  May  31,  1857, 
Mason,  N.  H.,  George  W.  Scripture  (son  of  Charles  Scrip¬ 
ture  and  Prudence  Webber),  b.  Nov.  14,  1823,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Sept.  17,  1878,  Mason,  N.  H.;  storekeeper.  Four  children, 
109-112. 

34.  Mary  Frances  Wheeler,  b.  Sept.  23,  1839,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Sept.  11,  1919,  Englewood,  N.  J.  She  m.  May  26, 
1860,  Mason,  N.  H.,  Orrin  Murray  Scripture  (son  of  Charles 
Scripture  and  Prudence  Webber),  b.  Jan.  18,  1837,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Feb.  11,  1915,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. ;  merchant,  Mason, 
N.  H. ;  many  years  a  member  of  New  York  Produce  Ex¬ 
change,  residing  in  New  York  City  and  Brooklyn.  Five 
children,  113-117. 

III.  Children  of  Sally  Hill,  No.  4. 

35.  Artemas  Merriam,  b.  Oct.  14,  1814,  Mason,  N.  H.; 
d.  Feb.  25,  1891,  Garland,  Me.;  farmer,  Garland,  Me.;  artil¬ 
leryman  in  Aroostook  War,  1839;  moderator  of  town  meet¬ 
ing,  10  years.  He  m.  1st,  June  16,  1842,  Angelina  Fogg,  of 
Deerfield,  N.  H.  (dau.  of  Jeremiah  and  Angelina),  who  d. 
1869.  Three  children,  118-120.  He  m.  2d,  1874. 

36.  Polly  Boynton  Merriam,  b.  Aug.  2,  1816;  d.  Dec. 
15,  1821. 

37.  Ebenezer  Hill  Merriam,  b.  July  24,  1820;  d.  Aug. 
17,  1825. 

38.  William  Bancroft  Merriam,  b.  Mar.  17,  1823;  d. 
Aug.  27,  1825. 


54 


Ebenezer  Hill 


39.  Sarah  Elizabeth  Merriam,  b.  Oct.  23,  1825,  Garland, 
Me.;  d.  Aug.  3,  1886,  Garland,  Me.  She  m.  Jan.  28,  1843, 
Garland,  Me.,  Lebbeus  Oak  (son  of  Benjamin  Hastings  Oak 
and  Hannah  Smith),  b.  Boscawen,  N.  H.,  Dec.  12,  1820;  d. 
May  23,  1905,  Garland,  Me.;  harness  maker,  Garland,  Me.; 
captain  of  Home  Guards,  1861;  Major  of  militia,  1863;  re¬ 
cruiting  officer,  1861-5.  Six  children,  121-126. 

40.  Charles  Ellery  Merriam,  b.  Oct.  20,  1828,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Feb.  2,  1899,  Garland,  Me.;  shoemaker,  Garland,  Me. 
He  m.  May  5,  1858,  Eleanor  Wilson  Seward  (dau.  of  Robert 
Seward  and  Sally  Saunders),  b.  Aug.  15,  1833,  Garland,  Me; 
d.  Oct.  29,  1912,  Garland,  Me.  No  children. 

41.  George  Parker  Merriam,  b.  July  8,  1832,  Garland, 
Me.;  d.  in  Soldiers’  Home,  Chelsea,  Mass.;  shoemaker,  Lynn, 
Mass.  He  m.  1st,  Feb.  24,  1855,  Lynn,  Mass.,  Priscilla  A. 
Tufts  (dau.  of  Geo.  D.),  b.  1833,  Lynn,  Mass.  He  m.  2d, 
Dec.  21,  1896,  Lynn,  Mass.,  Rose  A.  Ripley  (dau.  of  William 
and  Caroline),  b.  1840,  in  Maine. 

III.  Child  of  John  Boynton  Hill,  No.  5. 

42.  Isaac  Parker  Hill,  b.  Mar.  26,  1831;  d.  Mar.  28,  1831, 
Exeter,  Me. 

III.  Children  of  Joseph  Bancroft  Hill,  No.  6. 

43.  Charles  Ebenezer  Hill,  b.  Feb.  7,  1848,  Colebrook, 
N.  H.;  d.  Apr.  6,  1917,  Temple,  N.  H.;  buried  in  Baltimore, 
Md.;  educated  at  Appleton  Academy,  and  Dartmouth  Col¬ 
lege,  1871 ;  associate  professor  of  History,  U.  S.  Naval  Acad¬ 
emy,  Annapolis,  Md.,  1871-75;  admitted  to  bar,  Feb.  13,  1875; 
lawyer,  Baltimore,  Md.,  1871-1909;  retired  to  Temple,  N.  H.; 
trustee  of  1st  Methodist  Church,  Baltimore,  of  Home  for 
Aged,  etc.;  one  of  the  founders  of  The  Woman’s  College 
Baltimore  (now  Goucher  College)  ;  lecturer  on  Medical  Jur¬ 
isprudence;  member  of  clubs,  etc.;  author  of  The  Little  Min¬ 
ister  of  Mason,  published  in  this  volume.  He  m.  Nov.  23, 
1875,  Annapolis,  Md.,  Keturah  Watts  Clayton  (dau.  of  Philip 
Coleman  Clayton  and  Catharine  Guest  Schwaerer),  b.  Apr. 
25,  1849,  Annapolis;  d.  Apr.  6,  1907,  Baltimore,  Md.  Four 
children,  127-130. 

44.  Isaac  Brown  Hill,  b.  Feb.  20,  1850,  Colebrook,  N. 
H. ;  d.  Mar.,  1850. 

45.  Joseph  Edward  Hill,  b.  Oct.  1,  1852,  Colebrook, 
N.  H.;  d.  June  5,  1857,  Colebrook,  N.  H. 

46.  Harriet  Hill,  b.  Nov.  21,  1854,  Colebrook,  N.  H.; 
d.  1857,  Colebrook,  N.  H. 

47.  Rev.  William  Bancroft  Hill,  D.D.,  b.  Feb.  17,  1857, 
Colebrook,  N.  H.;  educated  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  1875, 


Genealogy 


55 


Harvard  College,  1879,  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  Columbia  Law 
School,  1880-1,  Baltimore  Law  School,  1881-2,  Union  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary,  1886;  D.D.,  Rutgers  College,  1905;  lawyer, 
Baltimore,  Md.,  1882-3 ;  prof,  of  Philosophy,  Park  College, 
Mo.,  1883;  ordained  by  Classis  of  Greene,  Oct.  19,  1886; 
pastor  of  Reformed  Church,  Athens,  N.  Y.,  1886-90;  of  Sec¬ 
ond  Reformed  Church,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  1890-1902;  lec¬ 
turer  on  Bible,  1899-1902,  Vassal*  College,  prof,  of  Biblical 
Literature,  1902-22,  and  prof,  emeritus,  since  1922 ;  trustee 
of  Rutgers  College,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  of  Roe  Indian 
Institute,  Wichita,  Kan.,  of  Fukien  Christian  University, 
China,  and  of  the  American  University  of  Cairo,  Egypt  (v. 
pres.)  ;  vice-president  of  General  Synod  of  Reformed  Church 
in  America,  1922;  missionary  traveler,  lecturer,  author  of 
Present  Problems  in  New  Testament  Study ,  Life  of  Christ , 
Apostolic  Age ,  The  Graves  Lectures  on  Missions ,  etc.;  see  Who's 
Who.  He  m.  Dec.  29,  1892,  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  Elsie  A.  Weyer¬ 
haeuser  (dau.  of  Frederick  Weyerhaeuser  and  Elizabeth  Sarah 
Bloedel),  Wellesley  College,  1882,  A.  M.,  1887,  studied  abroad. 

48.  Joseph  Adna  Hill,  Ph.D.,  b.  May  5,  1860,  West 
Stewartstown,  N.  H. ;  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  1881,  Har¬ 
vard  College,  1885;  postgraduate  student  in  Harvard,  Johns 
Hopkins,  Berlin  and  Halle  Universities;  Ph.D.,  Halle,  1892; 
taught  in  Univ.  of  Pa.,  1893-5,  Harvard,  1895-7 ;  sent  to  Eu¬ 
rope  by  Mass.  Tax  Commission,  1897 ;  in  U.  S.  Census  office, 
1898-  — ,  becoming  assistant  director,  1921 ;  Cosmos  Club, 
Washington;  author,  etc.;  see  Who}s  Who.  Unmarried. 

III.  Children  of  Edward  Stearns  Hill,  No.  7. 

49.  Edward  Stearns  Hill,  Jr.,  b.  Sept.  28,  1828,  New 
York  City;  d.  Oct.  12,  1900,  Oconto,  Wise.;  bank  clerk,  New 
York  City;  railroading  on  various  lines  in  Illinois  and  Mis¬ 
souri  ;  usually  residing  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  or  Rosemond  or 
Pinckneyville,  Ill.  He  m.  Dec.  13,  1853,  New  York  City, 
Mary  Elizabeth  Dater,  who  d.  Nov.  19,  1880,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Three  children,  131-133. 

50.  Lucy  Sylvania  Hill,  b.  Dec.  25,  1829,  New  York 
City;  d.  Apr.  30,  1918,  New  York  City.  She  m.  Aug.  8,  1850, 
N.  Y.  City,  Charles  Addison  Cragin  (son  of  Simeon  Cragin 
and  Elizabeth  Dakin),  b.  Apr.  12,  1824,  Mason,  N.  H. ;  d. 
May  21,  1894,  N.  Y.  City;  farmer,  Mason,  N.  H.,  and  Rose¬ 
mond,  Ill. ;  packer  and  provision  dealer,  N.  Y.  City.  Eight 
children,  134-141. 

51.  Abigail  Jones  Hill,  b.  Dec.  1,  1832,  N.  Y.  City;  d. 
Apr.  6,  1914,  Oconto,  Wise.;  taught  several  years  in  St. 
Louis,  Mo.  She  m.  July  3,  1859,  Rosemond,  Ill.,  Richard 
Lewis  Hall  (son  of  Jonathan  Cory  Hall,  M.  D.,  and  Lydia 


56 


Ebenezer  Hill 


Ann  Andrus),  b.  Aug.  7,  1832,  Spencer,  N.  Y. ;  d.  Feb.  15, 
1892,  Oconto,  Wise.;  surveyor,  county  clerk,  county  treas¬ 
urer,  abstractor  of  titles;  Presbyterian  elder;  Oconto,  Wise.; 
author  of  History  of  Oconto  County,  1876.  Eight  children, 
142-149. 

52.  Harlan  Page  Hill,  b.  Sept.  17,  1835,  N.  Y.  City;  d. 
Dec.  8,  1835. 

53.  Capt.  Ebenezer  Bancroft  Hill,  b.  Jan.  24,  1838, 
Mason,  N.  H.;  d.  Mar.  14,  1900,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  engineer 
on  steamboats  and  in  factories,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  on  the 
Union  gunboats  Lafayette  and  Benton  in  the  Civil  War; 
member  of  the  G.  A.  R.,  secretary  of  Commodore  Foote 
Association  of  Naval  Veterans.  He  m.  Sept.  27,  1865,  Nat¬ 
chez,  Miss.,  Mary  Emma  Lindsley,  b.  Apr.  7,  1849.  They 
had  no  children,  but  adopted  two:  Blanche,  who  m.  John 
Calhoun  McNary,  Jonesboro,  Ark.,  and  Lelia,  who  m.  Wil¬ 
liam  Y.  Haggard,  Dallas,  Texas. 

54.  Charles  Walter  Houghton  Hill,  b.  Feb.  12,  1842, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  farmer,  Rosemond,  Ill.,  town  clerk ;  many 
years  clerk  in  Pennsylvania  Railroad  offices,  Jersey  City, 
N.  J. ;  pensioned  at  70;  Sunday-school  teacher  and  superin¬ 
tendent  in  Rosemond  and  ever  since;  in  grocery,  Jersey  City, 
1912—;  Co.  A,  15th  Ill.  Vols.,  1861-5,  G.  A.  R.  He  m.  May 
3,  1866,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  Anna  Hawley,  who  d.  June 
23,  1914,  Jersey  City.  Four  children,  150-153. 

55.  Catharine  Maria  Hill,  b.  Feb.  9,  1846,  Brooklyn,  N. 
Y. ;  d.  Jan.  5,  1917,  Oconto,  Wise.,  unmarried.  Many  years 
clerk  in  county  offices,  and  manager  of  title  abstract  busi¬ 
ness,  Oconto,  Wise. 

III.  Children  of  Abigail  Jones  Hill,  No.  9 

56.  Maria  Frances  Kimball,  b.  Aug.  29,  1826,  Fitzwil- 
liam,  N.  H. ;  d.  Apr.  22,  1920,  New  York  City,  aged  93  years, 
7  months,  23  days,  the  longest-lived  descendant  of  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Hill.  She  m.  Oct.  16,  1850,  Fitzwilliam,  N.  H., 
Charles  Whittemore  (son  of  Dexter  Whittemore  and  Betsy 
Wright),  b.  Feb.  15,  1828,  Fitzwilliam,  N.  H.;  d.  Apr.  29> 
1904,  N.  Y.  City;  manufacturer  and  dealer  in  mirrors,  N.  Y. 
City;  deacon  in  Broadway  Tabernacle  Congregational 
church.  Three  children,  154-156. 

57.  John  Edward  Kimball,  Jan.  9  to  Sept.  25,  1829, 
Fitzwilliam,  N.  H. 

III.  Child  of  Maria  Hill,  No.  10. 

58.  Ebenezer  Hill  Pratt,  d.  1833,  Mason,  N.  H.,  aged 
2  years,  3  months. 


Genealogy 


57 


III.  Children  of  Adeliza  Hill,  No.  13. 

59.  Adeliza  Frances  Merriam,  b.  Mar.  3,  1835,  New  York 
City;  d.  Dec.  26,  1915,  N.  Y.  City.  She  m.  June  22,  1865, 
Orange,  N.  J.,  Rev.  Daniel  DuBois  Sahler  (son  of  Abraham 
Sahler  and  Eliza  Hasbrouck),  b.  July  7,  1829,  Kingston,  N. 
Y. ;  d.  Nov.  5,  1882,  N.  Y.  City  ;  College  of  N.  J.,  1853,  Phi 
Beta  Kappa;  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  1856;  ordained 
by  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  July  28,  1858;  supplied 
churches  in  Dunleith,  Ill.,  1856-7,  Red  Bank,  N.  J.,  1858-63, 
Sheffield,  Mass.,  (Cong’l),  1864-69,  Gilead  Presbyterian 
Church,  Carmel,  N.  Y.,  1871-82.  Four  children,  157-160. 

60.  Maria  Hill  Merriam,  b.  Aug.  9,  1837,  New  York 
City;  d.  Sept.  15,  1909,  Tarrytown,  N.  Y.  She  m.  Dec.  2, 
1862,  N.  Y.  City,  Walter  Franklin  Brush,  Jr.,  b.  Feb.  15,  1834; 
d.  June  3,  1865,  Rye,  N.  Y.  Two  children,  161-162.  'She  m. 
2d,  Oct.  29,  1884,  Highland  Falls,  N.  Y.,  William  Nevins 
Crane,  widower  of  her  sister  Carrie  (No.  62,  below). 

61.  Harriet  Wheeler  Merriam,  b.  Sept.  13,  1839,  N.  Y. 
City;  d.  Feb.  10,  1845,  N.  Y.  City. 

62.  Abbie  Caroline  Merriam,  b.  Nov.  8,  1841,  New  York 
City;  d.  Feb.  27,  1880,  N.  Y.  City;  president  of  the  N.  Y. 
City  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  which  published  a  volume  In  Memoriam 
of  her.  She  m.  Nov.  3,  1870,  Passaic,  N.  J.,  William  Nevins 
Crane  (son  of  Daniel  Crane  and  Elsie  Ann  Demarest),  b. 
May  19,  1836,  Albany,  N.  Y.;  d.  Sept.  14,  1910,  N.  Y.  City; 
publisher  (Ivison,  Blakeman,  Taylor  Co.),  later  flour  broker; 
elder  in  Madison  Square  Presbyterian  Church,  N.  Y.  City; 
member  of  Presbyterian  Board  of  the  Church  Erection  Fund. 
He  m.  1st,  Oct.  16,  1861,  N.  Y.  City,  Sarah  Ann  Ivison 
(dau.  of  David  B.),  b.  Aug.  29,  1839;  d.  Nov.  29,  1863.  One 
child,  d.  1863.  He  m.  2d,  Nov.  3,  1870,  Abbie  Caroline 
Merriam,  (No.  62),  one  child,  163.  He  m.  3d,  Oct.  29,  1884, 
Highland  Falls,  N.  Y.,  Maria  Hill  (Merriam)  Brush  (No.  60, 
above),  who  d.  Sept.  15,  1909,  at  their  summer  home  in 
Tarrytown,  N.  Y. 

63.  Henry  Everett  Merriam,  b.  Mar.  29,  1844,  New  York 
City;  d.  Feb.  12,  1891,  N.  Y.  City,  unmarried;  partner  with 
his  father  in  firm  of  B.  W.  Merriam  &  Co.,  manufacturers 
and  dealers  in  mirrors,  N.  Y.  City ;  member  of  N.  Y.  7th 
Regt. 

64.  Emma  Rebecca  Merriam,  b.  Apr.  10,  1850,  New 
York  City;  d.  Oct.  9,  1873,  Scarboro,  N.  Y. 

65.  Annie  Louisa  Merriam,  b.  Nov.  24,  1852,  New  York 
City.  Resides  in  N.  Y.  City. 

66.  Sarah  Wheeler  Merriam,  b.  Sept.  1,  1854,  New  York 
City;  d.  Nov.  15,  1886,  N.  Y.  City. 


58 


Ebenezer  Hill 


III.  Children  of  Martha  Hill,  No.  14. 

67.  Edwin  Ruthven  Hill  Hodgman,  b.  Oct.  17,  1847, 
Mason,  N.  H.;  d.  Aug.  24,  1909,  Bozeman,  Montana;  grad. 
Appleton  Academy,  and  Dartmouth  College,  1869;  taught 
in  Vermont,  Kansas  and  Missouri,  1869-73;  clerk  in  imple¬ 
ment  house,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  1873-80 ;  member  of  firm  of 
G.  B.  Hodgman  &  Co.,  wholesale  cooperage,  Sandusky,  O., 
and  Port  Huron,  Mich.,  1880-83 ;  ranchman,  Bozeman,  Mont., 
1883-1909;  secretary  of  Farmers’  Canal  Co.,  and  of  Telephone 
Co.  He  m.  Nov.  25,  1882,  South  Hadley  Falls,  Mass.,  Helen 
N.  Kinsman  (dau.  of  John  Kinsman  and  Lucy  A.  Greeley),  who 
still  resides  in  Bozeman.  No  children. 

68.  James  Fletcher  Hodgman,  b.  Jan.  30,  1850,  Orford- 
ville,  N.  H.;  d.  Feb.  6,  1850. 

69.  Harriet  Hodgman,  b.  Dec.  8,  1851,  Lunenburg,  Mass.; 
grad.  Appleton  Academy;  taught  in  Westford,  Mass.,  and 
Kansas  City,  Mo.;  proof-reader,  University  Press,  Cambridge; 
private  secretary  in  Chicago  and  Cambridge.  Resides  in  Walt¬ 
ham,  Mass. 

70.  Martha  Hill  Hodgman,  b.  Apr.  24,  1854,  Lunen¬ 
burg,  Mass. ;  d.  May  26,  1854. 

III.  Children  of  Timothy  Hill,  No.  15. 

71.  Francis  Lewis  Hill,  b.  Sept.  17,  1858,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.;  d.  May  11,  1864,  Shelbyville,  Ill. 

72.  Rev.  John  Boynton  Hill,  D.D.,  b.  Nov.  3,  1860,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.;  Knox  College,  1881,  A.M.,  1884;  Union  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary,  1887,  alternate  fellow,  president  of  Alumni, 
1902;  D.D.,  Westminster  College,  Mo.,  1903;  prof,  of  Greek, 
Park  College,  Mo.,  1881-4;  ordained  by  Presbytery  of  To¬ 
peka,  July  5,  1889;  organized  Westminster  Presb.  Church, 
Topeka,  Kan.,  and  supplied  it,  1889-90;  pastor,  Butler,  Mo., 
1890-94;  supplied  churches  in  Missouri,  1895-1903;  moder¬ 
ator  of  Synod  of  Missouri,  1903 ;  synodical  superintendent  of 
Home  Missions  in  Missouri,  1903-12;  trustee  of  Lindenwood 
College  and  Omaha  Theological  Seminary;  member  of  Pres¬ 
byterian  Advisory  Council  on  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Erection ;  resided  in  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  1865-89,  and  1895- 
1913;  secretary  of  Presb.  Joint  Executive  Committee,  New 
York  City,  1913-15;  staff  positions  on  Presb.  Board  of  Home 
Missions,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  War-work  Council,  Interchurch  World 
Movement,  Association  of  American  Colleges,  and  Council 
of  Church  Boards  of  Education;  author  of  History  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Kansas  City,  1821-1901,  of  Timothy  Hill  and 
Western  Presbyterianism  (in  manuscript,  1923),  of  this  Gen¬ 
ealogy,  and  of  similar  (unpublished)  Notes  on  some  branches 
of  the  Bullard,  Cory,  Gardiner,  Hall,  Jones  and  Nelson  fam- 


Genealogy 


59 


ilies ;  residence,  Queens,  N.  Y.  He  m.  Nov.  23,  1911,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  Alice  Margaret  Bullard,  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.  (dau.  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Bullard  and  Helen  Maria  Nelson),  b.  Oct. 
4,  1876,  St.  Joseph,  Mo.  Three  children,  164-166. 

73.  Henry  Edward  Hill,  b.  Feb.  9,  1863,  Rosemond, 
Ill.;  educated  at  Knox  College,  Washington  University,  and 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology;  architect*  Kansas 
City,  Mo.,  1886-1921 ;  resident  in  Peking,  China,  as  archi¬ 
tect  for  Peking  University,  1921-1923.  Unmarried. 

74.  Son,  b.  and  d.  Oct.  20,  1866,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

FOURTH  GENERATION :  GREAT-GRANDCHIL¬ 
DREN  OF  THE  REV.  EBENEZER  HILL 

IV.  Children  of  Ebenezer  Hill,  3d,  No.  17. 

75.  Mary  Emily  Hill,  b.  Feb.  15,  1860,  Franklin  Co., 
Tenn. ;  d.  July  1,  1861. 

76.  William  Brown  Hill,  b.  Dec.  26,  1862,  Lincoln  Co., 
Tenn.;  salesman,  Huntsville,  Ala.  He  m.  May  13,  1891,  Jack- 
son  Co.,  Ala.,  Julia  B.  Alspaugh  (dau.  of  Simeon  and  Eliza¬ 
beth),  b.  Dec.  25,  1869,  Jackson  Co.,  Ala.  Seven  children, 
167-173. 

77.  Ebenezer  Boynton  Hill,  b.  Oct.  14,  1865,  Lincoln 
Co.,  Tenn.;  d.  June  21,  1867,  Fayetteville,  Tenn. 

78.  Cora  May  Hill,  b.  May  26,  1869,  Fayetteville,  Tenn. 
She  m.  Apr.  15,  1887,  Kelso,  Tenn.,  James  M.  Cambron  (son 
of  E.  J.)  ;  merchant,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.  Six  children,  174- 
179. 

IV.  Children  of  James  Bryan  Hill,  No.  21. 

79.  Charles  Bright  Hill,  b.  Sept.  1,  1869,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.;  train-despatcher,  Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St.  Louis 
Railroad,  Nashville,  Tenn.  He  m.  July  5,  1894,  Chattanooga, 
Tenn.,  Edna  Jones  (dau.  of  Dallas  J.  Jones  and  Rebecca 
Cively),  b.  Florence,  Ala.  Two  children,  180-181. 

80.  Mary  Bryan  Hill,  b.  Apr.  17,  1871,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.;  m.  Jan.  17,  1893,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.,  Joseph  Carri- 
gan  Higgins  (son  of  George  W.  Higgins  and  Susan  Carri- 
gan),  b.  May  13,  1872,  Lincoln  Co.,  Tenn.;  lawyer,  Nashville, 
Tenn.;  judge  of  the  State  Court  of  Appeals,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
Two  children,  182-183. 

81.  Alfred  Ebenezer  Hill,  b.  Feb.  8,  1874,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.;  geologist,  living  in  Tampico,  Mexico.  Unmarried. 

82.  Maggie  Bearden  Hill,  b.  Sept.  12,  1879,  Fayette¬ 
ville,  Tenn.  She  m.  Feb.  8,  1901,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.,  Eu¬ 
gene  Forest  Shofner  (son  of  William  L.  Shofner  and  Lillian 


6o 


Ebenezer  Hill 


Powers),  b.  Sept.  25,  1878,  Lincoln  Co.,  Tenn. ;  life-insurance 
underwriter,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.  Three  children,  184-186. 

83.  Emily  Hough  Hill,  b.  Feb.  4,  1882,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn.  She  m.  July  22,  1908,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.,  Holman  C. 
Milhous  (son  of  W.  A.  Milhous  and  Susan  Holman),  b. 
May  25,  1885,  Lincoln  Co.,  Tenn.;  d.  Sept.  16,  1918;  Fayette¬ 
ville,  Tenn.;  farmer,  Woolley  Springs,  Ala.  Three  children, 
187-189. 

IV.  Children  of  William  Joseph  Hill,  No.  23. 

84.  Kate  Eldridge  Hill,  b.  Dec.  14,  1874,  Lincoln  Co., 
Tenn.  She  m.  Oct.  31,  1895,  A.  R.  Goodenough,  farmer  in 
Tenn.  and  Mich.  Four  children,  190-193. 

85.  Walter  Vance  Hill,  b.  July  6,  1881,  Lincoln  Co., 
Tenn.;  farmer.  He  m.  Aug.  2,  1903,  Nellie  Hall  (dau.  of 
Thomas  and  Anna).  Three  children,  194-196. 

86.  Maggie  Sue  Hill,  b.  Apr.  6,  1887,  Lincoln  Co.,  Tenn. 
She  m.  John  I.  Williams,  farmer.  Three  children,  197-199. 

87.  Oscar  J.  Hill,  b.  May  28,  1894. 

88.  William  Ernest  Hill,  Feb.  7-11,  1899,  Lincoln  Co., 
Tenn. 

IV.  Children  of  Samuel  Hubbard  Wheeler,  No.  24. 

89.  Clara  Ann  Wheeler,  b.  June  19,  1846,  Mason,  N.  H. ; 
d.  May  15,  1875.  She  m.  Nov.  28,  1873,  John  W.  Converse, 
lawyer,  Springfield,  Mass.  No  children. 

90.  Horace  Boynton  Wheeler,  b.  in  Mason,  N.  H. ;  lived 
in  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.  He  m.  Nov.  24,  1874,  Mary  Emma 
Bullard  (dau.  of  Silas  Bullard  and  Elizabeth  Blair).  Three 
children,  200-202. 

91.  Fred.  Martin  Wheeler,  b.  June,  1852;  d.  May,  1856. 

92.  Addie  Laura  Wheeler,  b.  Aug.  28,  1859;  d.  in  N.  J. 
She  m.  Fred.  Lowell,  Mason,  N.  H. 

93.  Fred.  Campbell  Wheeler,  b.  Aug.  20,  1866;  d.  Sept. 
22,  1866. 

94.  Charles  Henry  Wheeler,  b.  Sept.  2,  1868,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  salesman,  Keene,  N.  H.  He  m.  Dec.  20,  1898,  Harris- 
ville,  N.  H.,  Minnie  Belle  Seaver,  Aug.  29,  1872,  Harrisville, 
N.  H.  One  child,  203. 

IV.  Child  of  Ebenezer  Wheeler,  No.  25. 

95.  One  child,  d.  at  age  of  six  months. 

IV.  Children  of  Timothy  Wheeler,  No.  29. 

96.  Harriet  Maria  Wheeler,  b.  Nov.  5,  1846,  South- 
bridge,  Mass. ;  d.  Aug.  28,  1848,  Mason,  N.  H. 

97.  Flora  Annjeanette  Wheeler,  b.  Nov.  8,  1848,  Mason, 
N.  H.  She  m.  May  14,  1868,  Boston,  Mass.,  William  C.  Hall; 


Genealogy 


6i 


lived  in  Plymouth,  Cambridge,  Watertown  and  Belmont,  Mass. 
Three  children,  204-206. 

98.  George  Arthur  Wheeler,  b.  Dec.  21,  1850,  Lancaster, 
Mass.;  d.  June  4,  1922,  Wakefield,  Mass.;  overlooker  in  piano 
factories.  He  m.  Feb.  24,  1897,  Wakefield,  Mass.,  Margaret 
E.  Wells.  No  children. 

99.  Frank  Eddy  Wheeler,  b.  June  22,  1853,  Mason,  N. 
H.;  workman  in  piano  factories;  residence,  Belmont,  Mass. 
He  m.  Apr.  29,  1880,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Charlotte  J.  Sandi- 
son.  Two  children,  207-208. 

100.  William  Boynton  Wheeler,  b.  July  22,  1857,  Ply¬ 
mouth,  Mass.;  d.  Dec.  3,  1863,  Woburn,  Mass. 

101.  Fred.  Dexter  Wheeler,  b.  Feb.  16,  1863,  Woburn, 
Mass. ;  d.  Aug.  16,  1864. 

102.  William  Everett  Wheeler,  b.  July  20,  1864,  Woburn, 
Mass.;  d.  Oct.  3,  1865,  Boston,  Mass. 

103.  Ann  Maria  Wheeler,  b.  May  6,  1866,  Boston,  Mass.; 
res.  Cambridgeport,  Mass. 

104.  Robert  Chester  Wheeler,  b.  Aug.  6,  1870,  Boston, 
Mass.;  d.  Nov.  20,  1875,  Woburn,  Mass. 

105.  Everett  Dexter  Wheeler,  b.  Mar.  24,  1873,  Woburn, 
Mass.;  d.  Feb.  6,  1886,  Deep  River,  Conn. 

106.  Clarence  Boynton  Wheeler,  b.  Dec.  31,  1874,  Wo¬ 
burn,  Mass.;  church  organist,  music  dealer,  Boston,  Mass.; 
res.  Cambridgeport,  Mass.  He  m.  June  28,  1918,  Allston, 
Mass.,  Florence  F.  Grant,  church  organist. 

IV.  Children  of  William  Wheeler,  No.  30. 

107.  Henry  E.  Wheeler,  b.  Aug.  22,  1850;  d.  1877. 

108.  William  Wheeler,  b.  Oct.  7,  1852;  d.  July  30,  1871, 
New  York  City. 

IV.  Children  of  Abbie  Maria  Wheeler,  No.  33. 

109.  Josephine  Maria  Scripture,  b.  Nov.  28,  1858,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Nov.  28,  1877,  Mason,  N.  H. 

110.  Frank  Percy  Scripture,  b.  Nov.  24,  1861,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Aug.  23,  1863. 

111.  Herbert  Everett  Scripture,  b.  Sept.  18,  1864,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  ranchman,  Stanton,  Neb. 

112.  Anna  Bertha  Scripture,  b.  Sept.  17,  1867,  Mason, 
N.  H.  She  m.  Sept.  4,  1889,  Waltham,  Mass.,  Wilford  Al- 
void  Hill  (son  of  Luther  Nathan  Hill  and  Lucretia  Nancy 
Read),  b.  May  5,  1867,  Keene,  N.  H.;  inventor  of  machines; 
Waltham,  Mass.  One  child,  209. 

IV.  Children  of  Mary  Frances  Wheeler,  No.  34. 

113.  Clayton  Orrin  Scripture,  b.  May  23,  1861,  Mason, 
N.  H.;  d.  Aug.  1,  1863. 


62 


Ebenezer  Hill 


114.  Fred.  Percy  Scripture,  b.  May  18,  1862,  Mason,  N. 
H. ;  d.  Aug.  12,  1863. 

115.  Edward  Wheeler  Scripture,  Ph.D.,  M.D.,  b.  May  21, 
1864,  Mason,  N.  H.;  College  of  City  of  New  York,  1884; 
Ph.D.,  Univ.  of  Zurich,  1890;  fellow  of  Clark  Univ.,  1891; 

M. D.,  Univ.  of  Munich,  1906;  psychologist,  neurologist,  pro¬ 
fessor,  author;  see  Who’s  Who,  and  American  Men  of  Science. 
He  m.  Apr.  22,  1890,  Leipzig,  Germany,  May  Kirk  (dau.  of 
Robert  T.  Kirk  and  Mary  Garvie),  b.  June  24,  1864,  Halifax, 

N.  S. ;  grad.  N.  Y.  Normal  College,  1883;  studied  in  Leipzig 
and  Berlin,  1889-91 ;  lecturer,  N.  Y.  University ;  clinical  as¬ 
sistant  in  College  of  Physicians  and  Sugeons  (Columbia)  in 
speech-reeducation;  lecturer  at  Tulane  Univ.,  1922-24,  and  at 
Univ.  Cal.,  1924;  see  Womans  Who’s  Who  in  America,  and 
Who’s  Who  in  New  York.  Three  children,  210-212. 

116.  Arthur  Percy  Scripture,  b.  Sept.  22,  1866,  Mason, 
N.  H. ;  began  business  with  his  father  on  the  Produce  Ex¬ 
change,  New  York;  later  in  steel  business,  N.  Y. ;  residence, 
Yonkers,  N.  Y.  He  m.  June  1,  1896,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Sarah 
R.  Kirk  (dau.  of  Robert  T.  Kirk  and  Mary  Garvie).  One 
child,  213. 

117.  Mary  Josephine  Scripture,  b.  Sept.  25,  1874,  New 
York  City;  d.  Nov.  9,  1879,  N.  Y.  City. 

IV.  Children  of  Artemas  Merriam,  No.  35. 

118.  Leander  Otis  Merriam,  b.  May  5,  1843,  Garland, 
Me.;  d.  Dec.  8,  1919,  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  Bowdoin  College, 
1866;  Union  Army,  3  years,  wounded  three  times,  vice-com¬ 
mander  Minn.  G.  A.  R. ;  lumber  business,  Petitcodiac,  New 
Brunswick,  14  years;  officer  in  Railway  Transfer  Co.,  Min¬ 
neapolis,  Minn.,  1891-1915;  Episcopal  vestryman.  He  m.  Dec. 
22,  1870,  Petitcodiac,  N.  B.,  Georgiana  Elizabeth  Humphreys 
(dau.  of  Hiram  Humphreys  and  Mary  M.  Crawford),  b.  Apr. 
7,  1853,  Petitcodiac.  Four  children,  214-217. 

119.  Charles  Enoch  Merriam,  b.  Sept.  12,  1845,  Garland, 
Me.;  d.  Mar.  7,  1906,  New  London,  Conn.;  commercial  trav¬ 
eler,  New  London,  Conn.  He  m.  Apr.  20,  1882,  New  London, 
Conn.,  Emeline  Louise  Miner  (dau.  of  George  R.  and  Harriet 
W.),  b.  Mar.  18,  1856.  Four  children,  218-221. 

120.  Sarah  Louisa  Merriam,  b.  Nov.  4,  1847,  Garland, 
Me.;  d.  Mar.  9,  1897,  Petitcodiac,  N.  B.  She  m.  Jan.,  1873, 
Edward  Payson  Eastman,  b.  Dec.  26,  1839,  Dennysville,  Me.; 
d.  Feb.  14,  1907,  Petitcodiac;  in  lumber  business;  private 
in  6th  Maine  Regt.  in  Civil  War.  Four  children,  222-225. 

IV.  Children  of  Sarah  Elizabeth  Merriam,  No.  39 

121.  Henry  Lebbeus  Oak,  b.  May  13,  1844,  Garland, 


Genealogy 


63 


Me.;  d.  May  20,  1905,  Seigler  Springs,  Cal.;  Bowdoin  College, 
2  years,  Dartmouth  College,  1866;  teacher  in  Exeter,  Garland 
and  Westport,  Me.,  Morristown,  N.  J.,  and  two  years  in  Cal¬ 
ifornia;  editor  of  Occident,  San  Francisco,  1868;  librarian  and 
superintendent  of  Bancroft  Library,  San  Francisco,  1869-87 ; 
author  of  ten  volumes  of  Bancroft  Histories,  and  of  an 
Oak-O aks-Oakes  Genealogy  (ms.  in  library  of  N.-Eng.  Hist. 
Geneal.  Soc.,  Boston,  and  Part  I  published  in  1906,  by  Ora 
Oak).  Unmarried. 

122.  Sarah  Adeliza  Oak,  b.  June  15,  1846,  Garland,  Me.; 
d.  Nov.  23,  1891,  Garland,  Me.;  lived  in  Maine,  Mass.,  and 
Cal.  Unmarried. 

123.  Edward  Merriam  Oak,  b.  July,  1850,  Garland,  Me.; 
d.  Sept.  3,  1852. 

124.  Ora  Oak,  b.  June  21,  1851,  Garland,  Me.;  Foxcroft 
Academy,  Me.,  and  one  term  in  Univ.  of  Maine;  clerk,  mer¬ 
chant,  ranchman,  etc.,  in  Pembroke,  Me.,  Petitcodiac,  N.  B., 
San  Francisco,  Cal.,  1872-6,  Nevada  mining  camps,  ’76-81,  Old 
Mexico,  ’82-86,  Perris,  Cal.,  ’87-98,  Cucamonga,  Cal.,  1900-07, 
Colton,  Cal.,  ’07-15,  Riverside,  Cal.,  1917 — .  He  m.  1st,  Dec. 
23,  1881,  Benicia,  Cal.,  Bertha  M.  Millett  (dau.  of  Orrin  B. 
Millett  and  Nancy  Minerva  Bradbury),  b.  1855,  Bangor,  Me.; 
d.  June  5,  1887,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.;  no  children.  He  m.  2d, 
September  25,  1889,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  Ellen  Beardsley 
Hewitt  (dau.  of  Rev.  Enoch  W.  Hewitt  and  Lucy  M.  Beards¬ 
ley),  b.  Sept.  16,  1857,  Pecatonica,  Ill.  Five  children,  226-230. 

125.  Mary  Elizabeth  Oak,  b.  Feb.  28,  1853,  Garland,  Me.; 
d.  May  25,  1853. 

126.  Orman  Oak,  b.  Nov.  1,  1856,  Garland,  Me.;  harness 
maker,  Caribou,  Me.,  and  Glendale,  Cal. ;  foreman  of  Ameri¬ 
can  Art  Leather  Co.,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  He  m.  Dec.  19,  1877, 
Belle  Haskell  (dau.  of  Kent  Haskell  and  Georgiana  Towle), 
b.  Sept.  26,  1860,  Dover,  Me.;  d.  Feb.,  1913,  Orange,  Cal. 
Three  children,  231-233. 

IV.  Children  of  Charles  Ebenezer  Hill,  No.  43. 

127.  Bancroft  Clayton  Hill,  b.  Feb.  17,  1877,  Annapolis, 
Md.;  d.  July  7,  1877,  Temple,  N.  H. 

128.  Col.  John  Philip  Hill,  b.  May  2,  1879,  Annapolis, 

Md. ;  A.B.,  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.,  1900;  LL.B.,  Harvard  Univ., 
1903;  lawyer,  Boston,  Mass.,  ’03-04;  Baltimore,  Md.,  since 
1904,  at  first  with  his  father,  Hill,  Ross  &  Hill,  later  Hill, 
Randall  &  Leser;  U.  S.  Dist.  Atty.  for  Md.,  1910-15;  repre¬ 
sentative  in  U.  S.  Congress,  1921 - ;  enlisted  in  Md.  Nat. 

Guard,  1904;  served  on  Mexican  Border,  1916;  Lt.  Col.  in 
A.  E.  F.  in  France;  Croix  de  Guerre,  1918;  author  Public  Service 
Commission  Law  of  Maryland ,  The  Federal  Executive ,  National 


64 


Ebenezer  Hill 


Protection ,  etc.;  member  and  trustee  of  many  organizations; 
see  Who's  Who.  He  m.  Oct.  18,  1913,  Baltimore,  Md.,  Suzanne 
Carroll  (dau.  of  John  Howell  Carroll  and  Mary  Grafton  Rogers), 
b.  Nov.  14,  1889,  Baltimore,  Md.  Three  children,  234-236. 

129.  Capt.  Eben  Clayton  Hill,  M.  D.,  b.  Oct.  9,  1881,  Balti¬ 
more,  Md.;  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.,  A.B.,  1903;  M.D.,  ’07;  stu¬ 
dent  at  Univ.  of  Freiburg,  Germany,  ’04;  physician,  Balti¬ 
more,  Md.,  ’07-08;  U.  S.  Army  Medical  Corps,  ’08-13,  retired 
as  Captain ;  physician  and  pathologist,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y., 
1913-20;  roentgenologist,  U.  S.  Med.  Advisory  Board,  N.  Y., 
1918-19;  prof.  Johns  Hopkins  Med.  Coll.;  member  of  Ameri¬ 
can  and  Foreign  medical  and  scientific  societies,  etc. ;  see 
Who’s  Who.  He  m.  Sept.  19,  1908,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  Lucy 
Lovell  Atwater  (dau.  of  Edward  Storrs  Atwater  and  Caro¬ 
line  Swift),  b.  Mar.  30,  1883.  No  children. 

130.  (Joseph)  Bancroft  Hill,  b.  May  5,  1887,  Baltimore, 
Md.;  educ.  at  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  and  Mass.  Inst,  of  Tech¬ 
nology  ;  civil  engineer,  Baltimore,  Md. ;  engineer  of  Balti¬ 
more  Harbor.  He  m.  May  5,  1915,  Baltimore,  Md.,  Frances 
Moale  McCoy  (dau.  of  James  Espy  McCoy  and  Catharine 
Lardner  Gibbon).  No  children. 

IV.  Children  of  Edward  Stearns  Hill,  Jr.,  No.  49. 

131.  Lewis  Lang  Hill,  b.  Sept.  25,  1854,  New  York  City; 
long  a  clerk  in  Laclede  Gas  Co.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

132.  Adeliza  Merriam  Hill,  b.  Dec.  26,  1861,  Rosemond, 
Ill. ;  trained  nurse,  supt.  of  Henrietta  Hospital,  East  St.  Louis, 
Ill.  She  m.  Sept.  19,  1906,  East  St.  Louis,  Capt.  Augustus  M. 
Kirby;  served  in  Spanish  American  War;  lawyer  of  Inter¬ 
national  Harvester  Co.,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Regina,  Sask.,  and 
Dallas,  Tex.,  and  for  Moline  Plow  Co.  Res.,  St.  James,  Mo. 
No  children. 

133.  Mary  Anna  Hill,  b.  Jan.  27,  1870,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
She  m.  Feb.  3,  1891,  Pinckneyville,  Ill.,  William  Sebastian 
Berkeley  (son  of  Augustus  Berkeley  and  Elizabeth  Downs), 
b.  Dec.  4,  1854;  d.  Oct.  23,  1897,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  painter. 
Since  his  death  she  has  lived  in  Oconto,  Wise.;  clerk  in  an 
abstract  office.  Three  children,  237-239. 

IV.  Children  of  Lucy  Sylvania  Hill,  No.  50. 

134.  Edward  Willis  Cragin,  b.  June  6,  1851 ;  d.  Aug.  16, 
1865,  N.  Y.  City. 

135.  Carrie  Tenney  Cragin,  b.  June  6,  1853;  d.  Sept.  7, 
1859,  Rosemond,  Ill. 

136.  Ida  Belle  Cragin,  b.  Nov.  18,  1855;  d.  Aug.  1,  1865, 
N.  Y.  City. 

137.  Frank  Addison  Cragin,  b.  Feb.  6,  1858;  d.  Feb.  10, 
1882,  N.  Y.  City. 


Genealogy 


65 


138.  Lillie  Sylvania  Cragin,  b.  June  2,  1865,  Rosemond, 

III. ;  d.  Aug.  11,  1865,  N.  Y.  City. 

139.  Emma  Florence  Cragin,  b.  Jan.  15,  1870,  N.  Y.  City; 
graduate  of  Hunter  College;  supt.  of  circulation  cataloguing, 
N.  Y.  Public  Library ;  library  work  with  the  A.  E.  F.,  in 
France  and  Germany,  1919. 

140.  Grace  May  Cragin,  b.  Jan.  15,  1871;  d.  1871,  Rye, 
N.  Y. 

141.  Eva  Cragin,  b.  Nov.  1,  1872;  d.  1874. 

IV.  Children  of  Abigail  Jones  Hill,  No.  51. 

142.  Mary  Frances  Hall,  b.  Nov.  13,  1860,  Oconto, 
Wise.;  d.  Mar.  6,  1863,  Oconto,  Wise. 

143.  Edward  Jonathan  Hall,  b.  July  13,  1862,  Marinette, 
Wise.;  surveyor  in  Wise.,  Tex.,  and  Cal.  He  m.  1st,  1893, 
Mary  Ulysses  Brown;  no  children.  He  m.  2d,  Aug.  9,  1903, 
Houston,  Tex.,  Dora  (Allen)  Gossett,  who  had  one  daughter 
(Mabel  Gossett)  ;  and  one  child  by  her  2d  marriage,  240. 

144.  Kate  Lydia  Hall,  b.  May  31,  1864,  Oconto,  Wise.; 
d.  Feb.  8,  1884,  Oconto,  Wise. 

145.  Richard  Lewis  Hall,  Jr.,  b.  Aug.  19,  1866,  Marinette, 
Wise.;  surveyor,  Oconto,  Wise.;  clerk  of  County  Court.  He 
m.  Dec.  17,  1896,  Oconto,  Wise.,  Minerva  Jane  Fitzgerald 
(dau.  of  Edward  Fitzgerald  and  Catharine  Crane),  b.  May  19, 
1875,  Oconto,  Wise.  Five  children,  241-245. 

146.  Ben  Allan  Hall,  b.  Jan.  31,  1868,  Oconto,  Wise.; 
supposed  to  have  been  lost  at  sea. 

147.  Col.  William  Bentley  Hall,  b.  Mar.  1,  1870,  Oconto, 
Wise.;  1st  Lieut.,  Co.  M,  12th  Wise.  Vols.,  in  Porto  Rico 
campaign,  1898;  Capt.  1899;  Major  with  A.  E.  F.  in  France 
and  Germany;  Lt.  Col.,  Wise.  Nat.  Guard;  abstracts  of  title, 
city  engineer,  Oconto,  Wise.  Unmarried. 

148.  Charles  Bancroft  Hall,  b.  July  15,  1871,  Oconto, 
Wise.;  electrician,  Oconto,  Wise.;  mgr.  of  waterworks  and 
electric  light,  Lamar,  Mo. 

149.  Andrus  Houghton  Hall,  b.  Mar.  13,  1873,  Oconto, 
Wise.;  d.  Sept.  11,  1874,  Oconto,  Wise. 

IV.  Children  of  Charles  Walter  Houghton  Hill,  No.  54. 

150.  Kate  Agnes  Hill,  b.  Apr.  20,  1872,  Rosemond,  Ill. 
She  m.  June  20,  1894,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  John  Holliday  (son 
of  Edward),  b.  May  3,  1870,  St.  John’s,  Nova  Scotia;  pilot, 
West  Shore  Ferry;  res.  Jersey  City.  Four  children,  246-249. 

151.  Mary  Emma  Hill,  b.  Apr.  20,  1873,  Rosemond,  Ill. 
She  m.  Oct.  29,  1896,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  Gustav  Martin  Fet- 
zer,  b.  Jan.  13,  1865;  printer,  N.  Y.  City;  res.  Maywood,  N.  J., 
fire  chief;  N.  Y.  State  militia,  in  service  in  Buffalo  and  Brook¬ 
lyn  riots.  Six  children,  250-255. 


66 


Ebenezer  Hill 


152.  Grace  Rebecca  Hill,  b.  July  24,  1875,  Rosemond, 
Ill.  She  m.  July  14,  1896,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  Jacob  Kegelmann 
(son  of  Christian  and  Marie),  b.  Oct.  26,  1865,  Paterson,  N. 
J.;  grocer  and  provision  dealer,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.;  1st  Lieut., 
4th  Regt.,  State  Militia;  18  years  Sunday-school  supt.,  in 
Presbyterian  and  Reformed  churches,  deacon  and  elder.  Three 
children,  256-258. 

153.  Frances  Augusta  Hill,  b.  Aug.  19,  1878,  Rosemond, 
Ill.  She  m.  Dec.  20,  1896,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  John  Hoffman 
(son  of  John  and  Augusta),  b.  Sept.,  1874,  Jersey  City,  N.  J., 
machinist,  Meadows,  N.  J.;  was  foreman  in  munition  plants, 
N.  Y.  City,  and  Savannah,  Ga.,  during  World  War,  also  in  ship 
building  plant.  Three  children,  259-261. 

IV.  Children  of  Maria  Frances  Kimball,  No.  56. 

154.  Charles  Erving  Whittemore,  b.  Aug.  18,  1856, 
Fitzwilliam,  N.  H.;  d.  Jan.  12,  1913,  New  York  City;  with 
his  father  in  mirror  business,  later  salesman  in  Tiffany’s, 
N.  Y.  City.  He  m.  Oct.  24,  1889,  N.  Y.  City,  Catharine  Leigh 
Taylor  (dau.  of  William  Taylor  and  Mary  Leigh),  b.  Aug. 
7,  1860,  N.  Y.  City.  One  child,  262. 

155.  William  John  Whittemore,  b.  Mar.  26,  1860,  New 
York  City;  artist,  N.  Y.  City;  summer  home,  Robinsfield, 
Easthampton,  L.  I. ;  see  Who’s  Who.  He  m.  1st,  Sept.  19, 
1895,  Springfield,  Mass.,  Alice  Vaud  Whitmore  (dau.  of 

Frederick  H.  Whitmore  and  Mary  E.  Curtis),  b.  - ;  d. 

Nov.  26,  1911,  Easthampton,  N.  Y.  He  m.  2d,  June  2,  1921, 
N.  Y.  City,  Charlotte  Helen  Simpson  (dau.  of  Robert  W. 

Simpson  and  Charlotte  Harrold),  - ;  artist,  member  of 

N.  Y.  Water  Color  Club,  and  of  National  Association  of 
Women  Painters  and  Sculptors. 

156.  Frances  Maria  Whittemore,  b.  Nov.  11,  1862,  New 
York  City.  She  and  Mrs.  Chas.  E.  Whittemore  live  together 
in  N.  Y.  City. 

IV.  Children  of  Adeliza  Frances  Merriam,  No.  59. 

157.  Henry  Hasbrouck  Sahler,  b.  Mar.  14,  1867,  Shef¬ 
field,  Mass.;  d.  July  26,  1868. 

158.  Emma  Frances  Sahler,  b.  May  7,  1869,  Passaic, 
N.  J.  She  m.  Oct.  20,  1903,  New  York  City,  Arthur  Hazard 
Dakin  (son  of  Francis  Elihu  Dakin  and  Emily  Hazard),  b. 
Apr.  27,  1862,  Freeport,  Ill.;  Amherst  College,  1884;  Harvard 
Law  School;  lawyer,  Boston,  Mass.  Two  children,  263-264. 

159.  Florence  Louise  Sahler,  b.  Sept.  15,  1871.  She  m. 
Oct.  11,  1911,  New  York  City,  Alfred  Brooks  Merriam  (son 
of  Aaron  Brooks  Merriam  and  Hannah  Matilda  Wentworth), 
b.  Apr.  17,  1859;  real  estate,  N.  Y.  City. 


Genealogy 


6  7 


160.  Helen  Gertrude  Sahler,  b.  Dec.  23,  1877,  Carmel, 
N.  Y. ;  sculptor,  New  York  City;  see  Who’s  Who. 

IV.  Children  of  Maria  Hill  Merriam,  No.  60. 

161.  Adeliza  Frances  Brush,  b.  Dec.  14,  1863,  - ;  d. 

Feb.  15,  1915,  New  York  City.  She  m.  Dec.  12,  1903,  N.  Y. 
City,  John  A.  O’Connor  (son  of  Thos.  H.),  lawyer  N.  Y. 
City.  Two  children,  265-266. 

162.  Walter  Franklin  Brush,  Jr.,  b.  Sept.  27,  1865,  Rye, 
N.  Y. ;  d.  Dec.  26,  1919,  Richmond,  Mass. ;  Harvard  College, 
1888;  special  courses  in  Union  Theological  Seminary,  Har¬ 
vard  Divinity  School,  Episcopal  Divinity  School  (Cambridge, 
Mass.),  and  Columbia  Law  School,  1894-8.  Teaching  and 
philanthropic  work,  N.  Y.  City  and  Boston,  Mass.  Unmarried. 

IV.  Child  of  Abbie  Caroline  Merriam,  No.  62. 

163.  Rev.  William  Merriam  Crane,  Ph.D.,  b.  Feb.  26, 
1880,  New  York  City;  Harvard  Univ.,  A.B.,  1902,  Ph.D., 
1906;  Harvard  Divinity  School,  1904;  studied  also  in  France, 
Germany  and  Syria;  ordained  Nov.  15,  1907,  pastor  Congre¬ 
gational  church,  Richmond,  Mass.,  1907-21 ;  member  of 
learned  societies,  college  trustee,  etc.,  see  Who’s  Who  in  Nezv 
England.  He  married  July  29,  1902,  Cambridge,  Mass., 
Eleanor  Winslow  Runkle  (dau.  of  John  D.  Runkle,  Pres,  of 
Mass.  Inst.  Technology,  and  Catharine  Robbins  Bird),  grad¬ 
uate  of  Radcliffe  College.  Seven  children,  267-273. 

IV.  Children  of  John  Boynton  Hill,  No.  72. 

164.  Helen  Frances  Hill,  b.  June  7;  d.  June  24,  1913, 
Kansas  City,  Mo. 

165.  John  Timothy  Hill,  b.  Jan.  15,  1915,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y. 

166.  Mary  Margaret  Hill,  b.  Dec.  30,  1916,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.;  d.  Feb.  6,  1919,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

FIFTH  GENERATION:  GREAT-GREAT-GRAND¬ 
CHILDREN  OF  THE  REV.  EBENEZER  HILL 

V.  Children  of  William  Brown  Hill,  No.  76. 

167.  Eben  Alspaugh  Hill,  b.  Jan.  11,  1892;  d.  Nov.  9, 
1892,  Fayetteville,  Tenn. 

168.  Twin,  b.  and  d.  Jan.  11,  1892. 

169.  Mary  Ruth  Hill,  b.  Oct.  23,  1893,  Fayetteville, 
Tenn. 

170.  James  Bryan  Hill,  b.  Apr.  15,  1895,  New  Market, 

Ala. 


68 


Ebenezer  Hill 


171.  Joseph  Bancroft  Hill,  b.  Sept.  5,  1897,  Elora,  Tenn. 

172.  Brown  Gregory  Hill,  b.  Jan.  5,  1899,  Elora,  Tenn. 

173.  Rebekah  Eustis  Hill,  b.  July  8,  1907,  Elora,  Tenn. 

V.  Children  of  Cora  May  Hill,  No.  78. 

174.  Carl  McPherson  Cambron,  b.  Nov.  26,  1889,  Flint- 
ville,  Tenn. 

175.  Ebenezer  Jasper  Cambron,  b.  Jan.  17,  1892,  Flint- 
ville,  Tenn. 

176.  Mary  Emily  Cambron,  b.  June  10,  1894,  Flintville, 
Tenn. 

177.  James  Baylor  Cambron,  b.  Jan.,  1897,  Flintville, 
Tenn. 

178.  Mattie  Ruth  Cambron,  b.  Oct.  1,  1899;  d.  Oct.  5, 
1899,  Flintville,  Tenn. 

179.  Joseph  Monroe  Cambron,  b.  Dec.  8,  1901,  Flintville, 
Tenn. 

V.  Children  of  Charles  Bright  Hill,  No.  79. 

180.  Charles  Dallas  Hill,  b.  July  25,  1898,  Nashville, 
Tenn. 

181.  Margaret  Rebecca  Hill,  b.  Mar.  4,  1900,  Nashville, 
Tenn. 

V.  Children  of  Mary  Bryan  Hill,  No.  80. 

182.  Jimmie  Margaret  Higgins,  b.  Nov.  30,  1893,  Fayette¬ 
ville,  Tenn;  Belmont  College.  She  m.  Sept.  25,  1918,  Nash¬ 
ville,  Tenn.,  Charles  Frank  Bagley  (son  of  Thomas  O.  Bag- 
ley  and  Ellen  Colville),  b.  Nov.  27,  1884,  Lincoln  Co.,  Tenn.; 
Washington  and  Lee  Univ.;  banker,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.  Two 
children,  274-275. 

183.  Joseph  Carrigan  Higgins,  Jr.,  b.  Aug.  28,  1897, 
Fayetteville,  Tenn.;  Vanderbilt  Univ.;  lawyer,  Atlanta,  Ga. ; 
in  army,  1918.  He  m.  Nov.  8,  1921,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Louella 
Whorley  (dau.  of  William  H.  Whorley  and  Laura  Lu  Whit- 
sitt),  b.  Feb.  12,  1899,  Nashville,  Tenn.;  Ward-Belmont  Col¬ 
lege  and  Vanderbilt  Univ. 

V.  Children  of  Margaret  Bearden  Hill,  No.  82. 

184.  James  Newton  Shofner,  b.  Sept.  6,  1902,  Fayette¬ 
ville,  Tenn.;  U.  S.  Naval  Academy,  class  of  1926. 

185.  Margaret  Hill  Shofner,  b.  Jan.  21,  1905. 

186.  Phoebe  Page  Shofner,  b.  Nov.  25,  1912. 

V.  Children  of  Emily  Hough  Hill,  No.  83. 

187.  John  Philip  Milhous,  b.  Mar.  6,  1909. 

188.  Margaret  Hill  Milhous,  b.  Apr.  16,  1910. 

189.  Plolman  Cannon  Milhous,  b.  Apr.  26,  1913. 


Genealogy 


69 


V.  Children  of  Kate  Eldridge  Hill,  No.  84. 

190.  Ethel  May  Goodenough,  b.  Jan.  19,  1897,  Lincoln 
Co.,  Tenn. 

191.  Mary  Pearl  Goodenough,  b.  Nov.  29,  1899,  in  Mich- 
igan. 

192.  Raymond  Leo  Goodenough,  b.  Sept.  24,  1902,  in 
Michigan. 

193.  Dilbert  Delile  Goodenough,  b.  Aug.  27,  1906,  Lin¬ 
coln  Co.,  Tenn. 

V.  Children  of  Walter  Vance  Hill,  No.  85. 

194.  William  Henry  Hill,  b.  July  10,  1904,  Lincoln  Co., 
Tenn. 

195.  Robert  E.  Lee  Hill,  b.  Mar.  18,  1907,  Lincoln  Co., 
Tenn. 

196.  Eddie  Margaret  Hill,  b.  Apr.  12,  1909,  Lincoln  Co., 
Tenn. 

V.  Children  of  Maggie  Sue  Hill,  No.  86. 

197.  Oscar  Raymond  Williams,  b.  Aug.  8,  1905,  Lincoln 
Co.,  Tenn. 

198.  Hubert  Howard  Williams,  b.  Nov.  21,  1907,  Lincoln 
Co.,  Tenn. 

199.  Walter  Lee  Williams,  b.  Feb.  24,  1909,  Lincoln  Co., 

Tenn. 

V.  Children  of  Horace  Boynton  Wheeler,  No.  89. 

200. 

201. 

202. 

V.  Child  of  Charles  Henry  Wheeler,  No.  94. 

203.  Maude  Frances  Wheeler,  b.  Dec.  29,  1899;  grad, 
first  honor,  Keene,  N.  H.  High  School,  1917 ;  N.  H.  Normal 
School;  B.S.,  Boston  Univ.,  1922;  teacher  in  high  schools, 
Somerville,  Mass.,  Brattleboro,  Vt. 

V.  Children  of  Flora  Ann jeanette  Wheeler,  No.  97. 

204.  Arthur  Eddy  Hall,  b.  Nov.  12,  1869,  Plymouth,  Mass.; 
action  worker  in  piano  factory,  Cambridge,  Mass.  He  m. 
July  30,  1904,  Amy  H.  Morrison.  Three  children,  276-278. 

205.  Abbie  Thomas  Hall,  b.  Aug.  8,  1872,  Plymouth, 
Mass.  She  m.  Nov.  18,  1898,  Watertown,  Mass.,  John  William 
Coe,  b.  Mar.  6,  1871,  Newfields,  N.  H.;  armament  foreman, 
Watertown  Arsenal;  res.  Belmont,  Mass.  Four  children 
279-282. 

206.  Charles  William  Hall,  b.  Sept.  25,  1873,  Plymouth, 
Mass.;  foreman  in  piano  factory;  res.  Greenwood,  Mass.  He 


7  o 


Ebenezer  Hill 


m.  Jan.  31,  1900,  Elizabeth  Young,  b.  Apr.  5,  1877,  St.  John’s, 
New  Brunswick.  Seven  children,  283-289. 

V.  Children  of  Frank  Eddy  Wheeler,  No.  99. 

207.  Inez  Eliza  Wheeler,  b.  Apr.  19,  1881;  d.  July  4, 
1881,  Annapolis,  N.  S. 

208.  Marion  Sandison  Wheeler,  b.  Aug.  9,  1886. 

V.  Child  of  Anna  Bertha  Scripture,  No.  112. 

209.  Dorotha  Scripture  Hill,  b.  Oct.  14,  1900,  Waltham, 
Mass. 

V.  Children  of  Edward  Wheeler  Scripture,.  No.  115. 

210.  Winifred  Scripture,  b.  July  15,  1891,  Worcester, 
Mass.;  educated  abroad,  Bryn  Mawr  College,  1912.  She 
m.  Apr.  21,  1917,  New  York  City,  Percy  Custer  Fleming,  b. 
1890,  Jacksonville,  Fla.;  Capt.  U.  S.  Army,  26th  Cavalry,  in 
Philippines  since  1920.  Two  children,  290-291. 

211.  Elsa  Scripture,  b.  Jan.  15,  1894,  New  Haven,  Conn.; 
educated  abroad,  Bryn  Mawr  College,  ex-1915.  She  m.  Aug. 
25,  1922,  New  York  City,  Archibald  Erskine  Kidd,  b.  1887, 
Glasgow,  Scotland;  secretary  of  Personnel  Committee,  Western 
Electric  Co.  One  child,  291^. 

212.  Edward  Wheeler  Scripture,  Jr.,  b.  Dec.  19,  1899, 
New  Haven,  Conn.;  with  A.  E.  F.  in  France,  two  and  a  half 
years,  wounded  at  d’Haumont,  Oct.  23,  1918;  Tome  School, 
Md. ;  Harvard  Univ.,  1921,  A.  M.,  1922;  Univ.  of  Caen,  France; 
chemist;  instructor  in  chemistry,  Lowell  Textile  Institute. 

V.  Child  of  Arthur  Percy  Scripture,  No.  116. 

214.  Dorothy  Kirk  Scripture,  b.  Oct.  14,  1902,  Yonkers, 
N.  Y.;  Vassar  College.  She  m.  Sept.  12,  1923,  Yonkers,  N.  Y., 
Chauncey  Tompkins  Secor. 

V.  Children  of  Leander  Otis  Merriam,  No.  118. 

214.  Agnes  Louisa  Merriam,  b.  Dec.  13,  1872,  Petit- 
codiac,  New  Brunswick.  She  m.  Sept.  16,  1896,  John  H. 
Groesbeck,  of  Janesville,  Wise.  She  is  a  teacher  in  public 
schools,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  One  child,  292. 

215.  Charles  Fred.  Otis  Merriam,  b.  Oct.  30,  1875,  Pet- 
itcodiac,  N.  B.;  mining  engineer,  Wallace,  Idaho.  He  m. 
Aug.  16,  1905,  Granite,  Idaho,  Ethel  Steen  (dau.  of  John), 
of  Murray,  Idaho. 

216.  Raymond  Fogg  Merriam,  b.  Jan.  6,  1877,  Petit- 
codiac,  New  Brunswick;  attorney,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  He 
m.  Feb.  16,  1906,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  Laura  Berger  (dau. 
of  John  R.  and  Clementine).  Two  children,  293-294. 


Genealogy 


7 1 


217.  Robert  Stanley  Merriam,  b.  July  4,  1878,  Petit- 

codiac,  New  Brunswick;  mining  engineer,  Wallace,  Idaho; 
Spokane,  Wash.  He  m.  Dec.  21,  1907,  Mabel  Fleming,  of 
Minneapolis,  Minn.,  (dau.  of  Geo.  W.  Fleming  and  Flora 
Trent).  Three  children,  295-297. 

V.  Children  of  Charles  Enoch  Merriam,  No.  119. 

218.  Anna  Louise  Merriam,  b.  Oct.  23,  1883,  New  Lon¬ 
don,  Conn.  In  City  Hall,  New  London,  Conn. 

219.  Harriet  Eleanor  Merriam,  b.  Jan.  20,  1885,  New 
London,  Conn.  She  m.  the  Rev.  Charles  Raymond  Chappell, 
who  is  a  Baptist  minister,  Middleboro,  Mass.  Two  children, 
298-299. 

220.  Ethel  Agnes  Merriam,  b.  Sept.  29,  1888,  New 
Haven,  Conn.  She  m.  William  A.  Elrick.  commercial  traveler, 
Hartford,  Conn.  Three  children,  300-302. 

221.  Leroy  Otis  Merriam,  b.  July  29,  1891 ;  d.  May,  1892. 

V.  Children  of  Sarah  Louise  Merriam,  No.  120. 

222.  Anna  W.  Eastman,  b.  Apr.  8,  1876;  in  Public 
Library,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  Lansing,  Mich. 

223.  Horace  Merriam  Eastman,  b.  Nov.  4,  1878,  Petit- 
codiac,  New  Brunswick;  Provincial  Normal  School  of  N. 
B.,  Univ.  of  New  Brunswick,  1902;  civil  engineer;  chief 
draftsman,  Keystone  works,  Jones  &  Laughlin  Steel  Corpn., 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.  He  m.  Sept.  5,  1911,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  Mabel 
Vandervort  (dau.  of  Walter  Vandervort  and  Mathilda  Berry), 
b.  Feb.  20,  1883,  Sewickley,  Pa.  No  children. 

224.  Arthur  Eastman,  b.  Dec.  26,  1880,  Petitcodiac,  N. 
B. ;  Provincial  Normal  School  and  Univ.  of  New  Brunswick; 
civil  engineer,  Ogdensburg,  N.  Y.  He  m.  Jan.  4,  1911,  Car¬ 
dinal,  Ontario,  Pearl  Curry  (dau.  of  Charles  Curry  and  Pris¬ 
cilla  Anderson),  b.  Sept.  22,  1882,  Cardinal,  Ontario.  Child, 
303. 

225.  Robert  Felt  Eastman,  b.  Mar.  11,  1887,  Petitcodiac, 
N.  B.;  B.S.  in  engineering,  Univ.  of  New  Brunswick,  1912; 
civil  engineer,  in  the  firm  of  Hall  and  Lethly,  Springfield, 
Ohio;  officers’  training  camp,  1918;  2d  Lieut.,  O.  R.  C.,  Coast 
Artillery.  He  m.  June  16,  1917,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Ethel  Un¬ 
derhill,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio  (dau.  of  Chas.  F.  and  Rachel 
W.),  b.  Dec.  19,  1885,  Brooklyn;  Vassar  College,  1907;  Phi 
Beta  Kappa;  Pittsburgh  Library  School,  1908;  children’s  li¬ 
brarian,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  head  of  children’s  dept.,  Worcester, 
Mass.,  and  Youngstown,  Ohio.  Three  children,  304-306. 


72 


Ebenezer  Hill 


V.  Children  of  Ora  Oak,  No.  124. 

226.  Alfred  Henry  Oak,  b.  Apr.  20,  1891,  Perris,  Cal.; 
Univ.  of  Cal.,  1915;  chemist,  asst.  supt.  Newport  Chemical 
Co.,  Milwaukee,  Wise.;  during  World  War  in  munition  plants 
at  Emporium,  Pa.,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  Milwaukee. 
He  m.  1917,  Gladys  Godfrey,  of  Chattanooga,  Tenn.  Two 
children,  307-308. 

227.  Lyndon  Hewitt  Oak,  b.  Nov.  15,  1892,  Perris,  Cal.; 
Univ.  of  Cal.,  1915;  chemist;  during  World  War  in  munition 
plants,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  Gary,  Ind. ;  latterly  with 
oil  companies  of  Chicago,  Oklahoma  and  Boston. 

228.  Liston  Merriam  Oak,  b.  Sept.  18,  1895,  Perris,  Cal. ; 
Los  Angeles  Normal  School,  Columbia  Univ.  summer  school; 
Univ.  of  Cal.,  1923 ;  taught  illiterates  in  Camp  Kearney  and 
in  the  A.  E.  F.  in  France;  taught  in  Katonah,  N.  Y.,  Long 
Beach  and  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  He  m.  May,  1915,  Imperial  Val¬ 
ley,  Cal.  Lura  Sawyer,  b.  1892,  in  Maine;  a  teacher  and  settle¬ 
ment  worker.  Two  children,  309-310. 

229.  Irving  Oak,  b.  Feb.  4,  1899,  Perris,  Cal.;  d.  1899. 

230.  Harold  Lebbeus  Oak,  b.  Oct.  11,  1900,  Cucamonga, 
Cal. ;  artilleryman,  trained  at  San  Diego,  Cal.,  1918;  Univ. 
of  Cal.,  1923,  B.  S.  in  chemistry;  chemist  in  Berkeley,  Cal. 

V.  Children  of  Orman  Oak,  No.  126. 

231.  Edward  Oak,  b.  1879;  d.  1882. 

232.  Ralph  Lane  Oak,  b.  Nov.  29,  1880,  Caribou,  Me.; 
bank  cashier,  Areata,  Cal. ;  secy,  of  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
He  m.  Ella  Dey  Conser  (dau.  of  Elder  Thompson  Conser 
and  Catharine  Jane  McAuley),  b.  Jan.  4,  1883,  Highland,  Kan. 
Two  children,  311-312. 

233.  Aimee  Oak,  m.  Fred  Allen,  proprietor  of  Allen’s 
Water  Gardens,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  No  children. 

V.  Children  of  John  Philip  Hill,  No.  128. 

234.  Susan  Carroll  Hill,  b.  May  19,  1916,  Baltimore,  Md. 

235.  Elise  Bancroft  Hill,  b.  Feb.  9,  1920,  Baltimore. 

236.  Catharine  Clayton  Hill,  b.  Jan.  23,  1923,  Washing¬ 
ton,  D.  C. 

V.  Children  of  Mary  Anna  Hill,  No.  133. 

237.  Edward  Augustus  Berkeley,  b.  Feb.  23,  1892,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.;  res.  Oconto,  Wise.,  Milwaukee,  Wise.  He  m. 
Dec.  26,  1918,  Milwaukee,  Wise.,  Margaret  Frances  Langlois 
(dau.  of  C.  A.).  Child,  313. 

238.  Mary  Louise  Berkeley,  b.  Jan.  31,  1894,  Pinckney- 
ville,  Ill.;  clerk;  deputy  Register  of  Deeds,  Oconto  County, 
Wise. 


Genealogy 


73 


239.  William  Lewis  Ambrose  Berkeley,  b.  Dec.  2,  1895, 
Pinckneyville,  Ill.;  res.  Kenosha,  Wise.  He  m.  Nov.  19,  1914, 
Marinette,  Wise.,  Edna  Sauve  (dau.  of  Frank),  of  Coleman, 
Wise.  Two  children,  314-315. 

V.  Child  of  Edward  Jonathan  Hall,  No.  143. 

240.  Ben.  James  Hall,  b.  July  31,  1905,  Oil  Fields,  Cal. 

V.  Children  of  Richard  Lewis  Hall,  Jr.,  No.  145. 

241.  David  Edward  Hall,  b.  Nov.  26,  1897,  Oconto,  Wise. 

242.  Harry  Alden  Hall,  b.  Apr.  18,  1899,  Oconto,  Wise. 

243.  Agnes  Catharine  Hall,  b.  May  24,  1902,  Oconto, 
Wise. 

244.  Geo.  Emmet  Benj.  Hall,  b.  Apr.  1,  1904,  Oconto, 
Wise. 

245.  Abbie  Jane  Hall,  b.  Aug.  23,  1909,  Oconto,  Wise. 

V.  Children  of  Kate  Agnes  Hill,  No.  150. 

246.  Edward  Charles  Holliday,  b.  Nov.  2,  1895. 

247.  Ethel  Holliday,  b.  Sept.  3,  1898.  She  m.  Julius 
Swanson,  tugboatman,  Union  Hill,  N.  J. 

248.  Ruth  Holliday,  b.  Sept.  17,  1901.  She  m.  Henry 
Korbach,  baker,  West  Hoboken,  N.  J. 

249.  Catharine  Houghton  Holliday,  b.  Dec.  30,  1906. 

V.  Children  of  Mary  Emma  Hill,  No.  151. 

250.  Dorothy  Mae  Fetzer,  b.  Sept.  1,  1897. 

251.  Grace  Myra  Fetzer,  b.  and  d.  Mar.  16,  1900. 

252.  Walter  Fred.  Fetzer,  b.  June  22,  1901. 

253.  Myra  Anna  Fetzer,  b.  Nov.  6,  1903.  She  m.  Jan. 
22,  1922,  Maywood,  N.  J.,  Vinton  Stuart  Knorr;  electric 
powerhouse,  Hackensack,  N.  J. 

254.  Harriet  Elizabeth  Fetzer,  b.  Dec.  30,  1906. 

255.  Viola  Gertrude  Fetzer,  b.  Mar.  26,  1912. 

V.  Children  of  Grace  Rebecca  Hill,  No.  152. 

256.  Grace  Adelaide  Kegelmann,  b.  July  12,  1897,  Jersey 
City,  N.  J. 

257.  Mildred  Kegelmann,  b.  Feb.  23,  1900,  Jersey  City, 
N.  J. 

258.  Franklin  Hill  Kegelmann,  b.  Dec.  7,  1908,  Jersey 
City,  N.  J. 

V.  Children  of  Frances  Augusta  Hill,  No.  153. 

259.  Florence  Evelyn  Hoffman,  b.  June  1,  1899.  She  m. 
Sept.  16,  1918,  John  Simkins,  bank  clerk. 

260.  John  William  Hoffman,  b.  May  11,  1901. 

261.  Grace  Hill  Hoffman,  b.  Dec.  11,  1908. 


74 


Ebenezer  Hill 


V.  Child  of  Charles  Erving  Whittemore,  No.  154. 

2 62.  Charles  William  Whittemore,  b.  Nov.  13,  1894,  New 
York  City;  d.  May  5,  1905,  N.  Y.  City. 

V.  Children  of  Emma  Frances  Sahler,  No.  158. 

263.  Arthur  Hazard  Dakin,  Jr.,  b.  Jan.  25,  1905,  Bos¬ 
ton,  Mass. 

264.  Winthrop  Saltonstall  Dakin,  b.  Oct.  21,  1906,  Bos¬ 
ton,  Mass. 

V.  Children  of  Adeliza  Frances  Brush,  No.  161. 

265.  Elizabeth  Franklin  O’Connor,  b.  May  10,  1906;  d. 
May  16,  1906,  N.  Y.  City. 

266.  Sarah  Patricia  Franklin  O’Connor,  b.  Dec.  5,  1907, 
N.  Y.  City. 

V.  Children  of  William  Merriam  Crane,  No.  163. 

267.  William  Merriam  Crane,  Jr.,  b.  June  22,  1903,  Cam¬ 
bridge,  Mass. 

268.  Edward  Payson  Crane,  b.  Nov.  12,  1904,  Berlin, 
Germany. 

269.  Gordon  Crane,  b.  Nov.  28,  1909,  Richmond,  Mass. 

270.  Chilton  Crane,  b.  May  19,  1911,  Richmond,  Mass. 

271.  Caroline  Merriam  Crane,  b.  Oct.  18,  1912,  Rich¬ 
mond,  Mass. 

272.  Frances  Whitney  Crane,  b.  Oct.,  1915,  Richmond, 
Mass. 

273.  Eleanor  Winslow  Crane,  b.  Aug.,  1917,  Richmond, 
Mass. 

SIXTH  GENERATION:  GREAT-GREAT-GREAT¬ 
GRANDCHILDREN  OF  THE  REV.  EBENEZER  HILL 

VI.  Children  of  Jimmie  Margaret  Higgins,  No.  182. 

274.  Charles  Frank  Bagley,  Jr.,  b.  Sept.  21,  1919,  Nash¬ 
ville,  Tenn. 

275.  Joseph  Higgins  Bagley,  b.  Jan.  28,  1923,  Nash¬ 
ville,  Tenn. 

VI.  Children  of  Arthur  Eddy  Hall,  No.  204. 

276.  Arthur  Morrison  Hall,  b.  Apr.  26,  1906. 

277.  Malcolm  Frank  Hall,  b.  Feb.  2,  1909. 

278.  Claribel  Wheeler  Hall,  b.  Nov.  11,  1911. 

VI.  Children  of  Abbie  Thomas  Hall,  No.  205. 

279.  Arthur  Lewis  Coe,  b.  Jan.  31,  1900;  71st  Coast 
Artillery,  1918-19. 


Genealogy 


75 


280.  Edward  Curtis  Coe,  b.  Oct.  25,  1903. 

281.  Ralph  William  Coe,  b.  Aug.  15,  1907. 

282.  Elinor  Imogene  Coe,  b.  Sept.  2,  1910. 

VI.  Children  of  Charles  William  Hall,  No.  206. 

283.  Chas.  William  Hall,  Jr,  b.  May  8,  1902. 

284.  George  Wheeler  Hall,  b.  June  23,  1903. 

285.  Alice  Dorothy  Hall,  b.  Nov.  2,  1905. 

286.  Robert  Henry  Hall,  b.  Apr.  30,  1907. 

287.  Flora  Sylvia  Hall,  b.  May  16,  1910. 

288.  Ruth  Ellis  Hall,  b.  June  6,  1915. 

289.  John  Frederick  Hall,  b.  Sept.  8,  1917. 

VI.  Children  of  Winifred  Scripture,  No.  210. 

290.  Peter  D.  Fleming,  b.  Jan.  17,  1918,  N.  Y.  City. 

291.  Barbara  Fleming,  b.  Nov.  30,  1920,  Camp  Dix,  N.  J. 

VI.  Child  of  Elsa  Scripture,  No.  211. 

29U/2.  Mary  Kirk  Kidd,  b.  June  21 ,  1923,  Montclair,  N.  J. 

VI.  Child  of  Agnes  Louisa  Merriam,  No.  214. 

292.  Robert  Merriam  Groesbeck,  b.  July  26,  1897,  Janes¬ 
ville,  Wise.  He  m.  June  28,  1920,  Manhattan,  Kan.,  Lillian 
Louise  Amos  (dau.  of  Frank  and  Cora).  Child,  316. 

VI.  Children  of  Raymond  Fogg  Merriam,  No.  216. 

293.  John  Leander  Merriam,  b.  June  9,  1913,  Minneap¬ 
olis,  Minn. 

294.  George  Clement  Merriam,  b.  Feb.  2,  1919,  Min¬ 
neapolis,  Minn. 

VI.  Children  of  Robert  Stanley  Merriam,  No.  217. 

295.  Virginia  Agnes  Merriam,  b.  Aug.  25,  1909,  Wal¬ 
lace,  Idaho. 

296.  Flora  Elizabeth  Merriam,  b.  Dec.  9,  1911,  Wallace, 
Idaho. 

297.  Eleanor  Merriam,  b.  July  10,  1913,  Wallace,  Idaho. 

VI.  Children  of  Harriet  Eleanor  Merriam,  No.  219. 

298.  Raymond  Merriam  Chappell,  b.  Aug.  15,  1911,  Bath, 

Me. 

299.  Ethel  Louise  Chappell,  b.  Aug.  29,  1916,  Bath,  Me. 

VI.  Children  of  Ethel  Agnes  Merriam,  No.  220. 

300.  Donald  William  Elrick,  b.  Dec.  27,  1915,  New  Lon¬ 
don,  Conn. 

301.  Robert  Merriam  Elrick,  b.  Apr.  29,  1919,  New  Lon¬ 
don,  Conn. 

302.  Richard  Grant  Elrick,  b.  Dec.  6,  1921,  Hartford, 
Conn. 


7  6 


Ebenezer  Hill 


VI.  Child  of  Arthur  Eastman,  No.  224. 

303.  John  Edward  Eastman,  b.  Jan.  12,  1912. 

VI.  Children  of  Robert  Felt  Eastman,  No.  225. 

304.  Robert  Merriam  Eastman,  b.  Apr.  18,  1918 

305.  Richard  Payson  Eastman,  b.  Aug.  5,  1920. 

306.  Rachel  Underhill  Eastman,  b.  Feb.  5,  1922 

VI.  Children  of  Alfred  Henry  Oak,  No.  226. 

307.  Elinor  Buell  Oak,  b.  June  18,  1918,  New  Brunswick, 

N.  J. 

308.  Dorothy  Marie  Oak,  b.  Aug.  5,  1919,  Milwaukee, 
Wise. 

VI.  Children  of  Liston  Merriam  Oak,  No.  228. 

309.  Joan  Oak,  b.  Mar.  18,  1920,  New  York  City. 

310.  Alan  Ben  Oak,  b.  Feb.  12,  1922,  Long  Beach,  Cal. 

VI.  Children  of  Ralph  Lane  Oak,  No.  232. 

311.  Orman  Haskell  Oak,  b.  Jan.  20,1913,  Imperial,  Cal. 

312.  Eugene  Kent  Oak,  b.  Sept.  15,  1915,  Areata,  Cal. 

VI.  Child  of  Edward  Augustus  Berkeley,  No.  237. 

313.  William  Francis  Berkeley,  b.  Sept.  11,  1920 

VI.  Children  of  William  Lewis  Ambrose  Berkeley,  No.  239. 

314.  William  Edward  Berkeley,  b.  Jan.  29,  1916 

315.  Harry  Lloyd  Berkeley,  b.  Apr.  7,  1919. 

SEVENTH  GENERATION:  GREAT-GREAT-GREAT- 
GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN  OF  THE 
REV.  EBENEZER  HILL 

VII.  Child  of  Robert  Merriam  Groesbeck,  No.  292. 

316.  Donald  Carleton  Groesbeck,  b.  Sept.  23,  1921,  Minn¬ 
eapolis,  Minn. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 

Genealogical  numbers  precede  the  names,  page  numbers  follow. 


ABBOTT,  Olive,  49 
ADAMS,  Mary,  19 
ALLEN,  Dora,  65 
Fred,  72 

ALSPAUGH,  Julia  B.,  59 
Simeon,  59 
AMES,  Joel,  52 
Mary,  52 

AMOS,  Frank,  75 
Lillian  Louise,  75 
ANDERSON,  Priscilla,  71 
ANDRUS,  Lydia  Ann,  56 
APPLETON,  John,  34 
ATWATER,  Edward  S.,  64 
Lucy  Lovell,  64 

BAGLEY,  Charles  Frank,  68 

274  Chas.  Frank,  Jr.,  74 

275  Joseph  Higgins,  74 
Thomas  O.,  68 

BANCROFT,  Aaron,  5 
Ebenezer,  13,  21,  47,  48 
George,  5 
Hubert  Howe,  63 
Rebecca,  13,  47 
BARRETT,  Jesse,  19 
Moses,  19 
Rebecca,  47 

BATEMAN,  Rebecca,  17,  47 
BEARDEN,  Alfred,  52 
Maggie  Collins,  52 
BEARDSLEY,  Lucy  M.,  63 
BERGER,  John  R.,  70 
Laura,  70 

BERKELEY,  Augustus,  64 

237  Edward  Augustus,  72 

315  Harry  Lloyd,  76 

238  Mary  Louise,  72 

314  William  Edward,  76 

313  William  Francis,  76 

239  William  Lewis  Ambrose,  73 
William  Sebastian,  64 

BERRY,  Mathilda,  71 
BINGHAM,  James,  26 
BIRD,  Catharine  Robbins,  67 
BLAIR,  Elizabeth,  60 
BLOEDEL,  Elizabeth  Sarah,  55 
BOYNTON,  Mary,  5,  9, 10,  11,  12, 
47  . 

Nathaniel,  47,  48 

BRADBURY,  Nancy  Minerva,  63 
BROWN,  Harriet,  40,  49 
Isaac,  49 


BROWN,  Mary  Ulysses,  65 

161  BRUSH,  Adeliza  Frances,  67 

60  Maria  H.  (Mernam),  57 

Walter  Franklin,  Jr.,  5 7 

162  Walter  Franklin,  Jr.  (3d),  67 
BRYAN,  James,  48 

Mary  Tate,  48 

BULLARD,  Alice  Margaret,  59 
Henry,  58,  59 
Mary,  60 
Silas,  60 

174  CAMBRON,  Carl  McPherson,  68 

175  Ebenezer  Jasper,  68 

177  James  Baylor,  68 
James  M.,  59 

179  Joseph  Monroe,  68 

176  Mary  Emily,  68 

178  Mattie  Ruth,  68 
CAMPBELL,  Henry,  52 

Sophia  Augusta,  52 
CARR1GAN,  Susan,  59 
CARROLL,  John  Howell,  64 
Suzanne,  64 

CHAMBERS,  William,  10 
CHAPPELL,  Charles  Raymond, 
7i 

299  Ethel  Louise,  7 5 

298  Raymond  Merriam,  75 

CIVELY,  Rebecca,  59 

_  27 

CLAYTON.  Keturah  Watts,  54 
Philip  Coleman,  54 

279  COE,  Arthur  Lewis,  74 

280  Edward  Curtis,  7 5 

282  Elinor  Imogene,  75 

John  William,  69 

281  Ralph  William,  75 
COLVILLE,  Ellen,  68 
CONSER,  Elder  Thompson,  72 

Ella  Day,  72 

CONVERSE,  John  W.  60 
CORY,  Mary,  51,  58 

135  CRAGIN,  Carrie  Tenney,  64 

Charles  Addison,  55 
134  Edward  Willis,  64 

139  Emma  Florence,  65 

141  Eva,  65 

137  Frank  Addison,  64 

140  Grace  May,  65 

136  Ida  Belle,  64 

138  Lillie  Sylvania,  65 
Simeon,  55 


78 


Index  of  Persons 


271  CRANE,  Caroline  Merriam,  74 

Catharine,  65 
270  Chilton,  74 
Daniel,  57 

268  Edward  Payson,  74 

273  Eleanor  Winslow,  74 

272  Frances  Whitney,  74 

269  Gordon,  74 

163  William  Merriam,  67 

267  William  Merriam,  Jr.,  74 

William  Nevins,  57 
CRAWFORD,  Mary  M.,  62 
CURRY,  Charles,  71 
Pearl  7 1 

CURTIS,' Mary  E.,  66 
CUSHING,  Joseph,  18 
CUTLER,  Ebenezer,  11 
Sarah,  11,  47 

CUTTER,  Ebenezer  Bancroft,  36 
Mary  Sylvania  (Jones,)  36 
Sally,  50 

DAKIN,  Arthur  Hazard,  66 

263  Arthur  Hazard,  Jr.,  74 
Elizabeth,  55 
Francis  Elihu,  66 

264  Winthrop  Saltonstall,  74 
DATER,  Mary  Elizabeth,  55 
DEMAREST,  Elsie  Ann,  57 
DIX,  Samuel,  10,  12,  13 
DOWNING,  Maggie,  52 
DOWNS,  Elizabeth,  64 

222  EASTMAN,  Anna  W.,  71 

224  Arthur,  71 
Edward  Payson,  62 

223  Horace  Merriam,  71 

303  John  Edward,  76 

306  Rachel  Underhill,  76 

305  Richard  Payson,  76 

225  Robert  Felt,  71 

304  Robert  Merriam,  76 
ELDRIDGE,  Bowlin,  52 

Maggie,  Tabitha,  52 
ELIOT,  Susanna,  48 

300  ELRICK,  Donald  William,  75 

302  Richard  Grant,  75 

301  Robert  Merriam,  75 
William  A.,  71 

FARLEY,  Mark,  27 

250  FETZER,  Dorothy  Mae,  73 

251  Grace  Myra,  73 
Gustav  Martin,  65 

254  Harriet  Elizabeth,  73 

253  Myra  Anna,  73 

255  Viola  Gertrude,  73 

252  Walter  Fred,  73 
FINNEY,  Charles  G.,  34 


FITZGERALD,  Edward,  65 
Minerva  Jane,  65 
FLAGG,  Josiah,  16 
Sarah,  49 

291  FLEMING,  Barbara,  75 

George  W.,  71 
Mabel,  71 
Percy  Custer,  70 
290  Peter  D.,  75 

FLETCHER,  Susanna,  47 
FOGG,  Angelina,  53 
Jeremiah,  53 

GARDNER, - ,  58 

GARVIE,  Mary,  62 
GIBBON,  Catharine  Lardner,  64 
GODFREY,  Gladys,  72 
GOODENOUGH,  A.  R.,  60 
193  Dilbert  Delile,  69 

190  Ethel  May,  69 

191  Mary  Pearl,  69 

192  Raymond  Leo,  69 
GOODWIN,  Daniel,  38 
GOSSETT,  Dora  (Allen),  65 

Mabel,  65 

GOULD,  Daniel,  61 

GRANT,  Florence  F.,  61 
GREELEY,  Horace,  18 
Lucy  A.,  58 

GREGORY,  Ruth  Ann,  51 
Tunstall,  51 

316  GROESBECK,  Donald  Carleton, 
76 

John  H.,  70 

292  Robert  Merriam,  75 

HAGGARD,  William  Y.,  56 
245  HALL,  Abbie  Jane,  73 

205  Abbie  Thomas,  69 

243  Agnes  Catharine,  73 

285  Alice  Dorothy,  75 

149  Andrus  Houghton,  65 

204  Arthur  Eddy,  69 

276  Arthur  Morrison,  74 

146  Ben  Allan,  65 

240  Benj.  James,  73 

148  Charles  Bancroft,  65 

206  Charles  William,  69 

283  Charles  William,  Jr.,  75 

278  Claribel  Wheeler,  74 

241  David  Edward,  73 

143  Edward  Jonathan,  65 

287  Flora  Sylvia,  75 

Frances  Augusta,  51 

244  Geo.  Emmet  Benj.,  73 

284  George  Wheeler,  75 

242  Harry  Alden,  73 

289  John  Frederick,  75 


Index  of  Persons 


79 


HALL,  Jonathan  Cory,  55 

144  Kate  Lydia,  65 
Lewis,  51,  58 

277  Malcolm  Frank,  74 

142  Mary  Frances,  65 

Nellie,  60 
Richard  Lewis,  55 

145  Richard  Lewis,  Jr.,  65 

286  Robert  Henry,  75 

288  Ruth  Ellis,  75 

Thomas,  60 

147  William  Bentley,  65 

William  C.,  60 
HARDING,  Anna  Maria,  53 
HARROLD,  Charlotte,  66 
HASBROUCK,  Eliza,  5 7 
HASKELL,  Belle,  63 
Kent,  63 

HAWLEY,  Anna,  56 
HAZARD,  Emily,  66 
HEWITT,  Ellen  Beardsley,  63 
Enoch  W.,  63 
HIGGINS,  George  W.,  59 

182  Jimmie  Margaret,  68 
Joseph  Carrigan,  59 

183  Joseph  Carrigan,  Jr.,  68 

HILL,  Abigail  (Jones-Stearns), 
16,  24,  33,  40,  41,  42,  47 
9  Abigail  Jones,  17,  24,  26,  28, 

.  29,  30,  33.  50 
51  Abigail  Jones,  55 

13  Adeliza,  18,  24,  30,  31,  32,  33, 

36,  38,  39,  42,  50 
132  Adeliza  Merriam,  64 

81  Alfred  Ebenezer,  59 

Almira,  19 
130  Bancroft,  64 

127  Bancroft  Clayton,  63 

Blanche  S.,  56 
172  Brown  Gregory,  68 

236  Catharine  Clayton,  72 

55  Catharine  Maria,  56 

79  Charles  Bright,  59 

180  Charles  Dallas,  68 

43  Charles  Ebenezer,  1,  3,  4,  5, 

20,  42,  54 

54  Charles  Walter  Houghton,  56 

78  Cora  May,  59 

209  Dorotha  Scripture,  70 

1  Ebenezer,  1  -47 passim,  49 

2  Ebenezer,  Jr.,  1 1, 17,  20,  21,  22, 

26,  30,  36,  39,  40,  48,  49 
17  Ebenezer,  3d,  51 

167  Ebenezer  Alspaugh,  67 

S3  Ebenezer  Bancroft,  56 

77  Ebenezer  Boynton,  59 

129  Eben  Clayton,  64 

196  Eddie  Margaret,  69 


7  HILL,  Edward,  Stearns,  17, 18, 19, 
20,  22,23,  24,25,26,  27,  28, 
29*  30.  33.  36,  37.  38,  39.  49 

49  Edward  Stearns,  Jr.,  33,  55 

20  Edward  Stearns,  52 

235  Elise  Bancroft,  72 

16  Elizabeth  Mary,  51 

19  Emily  Ann,  40,  52 

83  Emily  Hough,  60 

152  Frances  Augusta,  66 

71  Francis  Lewis,  58 

152  Grace  Rebecca,  66 

52  Harlan  Page,  56 

46  Harriet,  54 

164  Helen  Frances,  67 

73  Henry  Edward,  59 

Isaac,  19 

44  Isaac  Brown,  54 

42  Isaac  Parker,  54 

21  James  Bryan,  52 

170  James  Bryan,  67 

5  John  Boynton,  12,  14,  17,  18, 

19,20,  21,22,  23,25,2 7,  29, 

30,3L33.  34,35,  37.  38,  39, 

42,  48 

72  John  Boynton,  1,3, 13,47,51,58 

128  John  Philip,  63 

165  John  Timothy,  67 

48  Joseph  Adna,  55 

6  Joseph  Bancroft,  14,  17,  18, 19 

20,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  30 

36,  37,  38,  39,  40,41,  48,  49 

5i 

130  (Joseph)  Bancroft,  64 

171  Joseph  Bancroft,  68 

45  Joseph  Edward,  54 

150  Kate  Agnes,  65 

84  Kate  Eldridge,  60 
Lelia,  56 

131  Lewis  Lang,  64 

12  Lucy  Sylvania,  18,  24,  28,  29, 

30,  50 

50  Lucy  Sylvania,  55 
Luther  Nathan,  61 

82  Maggie  Bearden,  59 

86  Maggie  Sue,  60 

131  Margaret  Rebecca,  68 

10  Maria,  17,  24,  29,  33,  34,  50 
14  Martha,  22,  24,  31,  33,  34,  36, 

37,  38,  39,  40,  42,  50 

Mary,  19 

123  Mary  Anna,  64 

80  Mary  Bryan,  59 

151  Mary  Emma,  65 

75  Mary  Emily,  59 

166  Mary  Margaret,  67 

169  Mary  Ruth,  67 


8o 


Index  of  Persons 


3  HILL,  Polly,  n,  17,  18,  20,  23,  24, 

33.  35.  39,  48 
Polly  (Boynton),  12,  47 

87  Oscar  J.,  60 
Rebecca,  19 

173  Rebekah  Eustis,  68 

Rebekah  (Bancroft-Howard), 
13,  15,  47 

8  Rebekah  Howard,  17,  18,  24, 

26,  3°,  33,  35,  36,  39,  42, 
43,  50 

195  Robert  E.  Lee,  69 

4  Sally,  ii,  17,  18,  20,  23,  24,  25, 

3L  33,  39,  48 
Sally,  19 

Samuel,  9,  15,  47,  48 
Samuel,  Jr.,  9,  11,  15,  19,  22 
Samuel,  3d,  19 

22  Sarah  Catharine  Houghton,  52 
Sarah  (Cutler),  9,  15,  17,  18 

234  Susan  Carroll,  72 

15  Timothy,  24,  33,  34,  36,  37,  38, 
39,  40,  41,  51,  58 

11  Timothy  Jones,  18,  29,  50 

85  Walter  Vance,  60 

Wilford  Alvoid,  61 
47  William  Bancroft,  3,  54 

76  William  Brown,  59 

88  William  Ernest,  60 

194  William  Henry,  69 

23  William  Joseph,  52 

HODGMAN,  Buckley,  50 

Edwin  Ruthven,  38,  40,  49,  50, 

58 

67  Edwin  (Ruthven  Hill),  40,  42, 

58 

George  B.,  58 

69  Harriet,  34,  42,  43,  58 

68  James  Fletcher,  58 

70  Martha  Hill,  58 

259  HOFFMAN,  Florence  Evelyn,  73 

261  Grace  Hill,  73 

John, 66 

260  John  William,  73 

249  HOLLIDAY,  Catharine  Hough¬ 
ton,  73 
Edward,  65 

246  Edward  Charles,  73 

247  Ethel,  73 
John,  75 

248  Ruth,  73 

HOLMAN,  Susan,  60 
HOSMER,  Lucy,  50 
HOUGH,  Ephraim,  52 
James  Edwin,  52 

HOUGHTON,  Catharine,  27,  28,  49 
Jason,  27,  49 


HOWARD,  Rebecca,  47 

Rebecca  (Bancroft),  13,  17,  47 
Samuel,  47 

HUBBARD,  Sarah,  48 
HUMPHREYS,  Georgiana  Eliza¬ 
beth,  62 
Hiram,  62 

IVISON,  David  B.,  57 
Sarah  Ann,  57 

JOHNSON,  Willis,  24 
JONES,  Abigail,  16 
Betsy,  18,  20 
Dallas  J.,  59 
Edna,  59 

Mary  Sylvania,  36 
Polly,  16,  47 
Rebecca  (Bateman),  18 
Samuel,  58 

Timothy,  16,  18,  47,  48,  58 
Timothy,  Jr.,  16 

KEGELMANN,  Christian,  66 
258  Franklin  Hill,  73 

256  Grace  Adelaide,  73 
Jacob,  66 

257  Mildred,  73 

KIDD,  Archibald  Erskine,  70 
291  Yz  Mary  Kirk,  75 

KIDDER,  Rev. - ,  13 

KIMBALL,  Isaac,  50 
John,  28,  29,  50 
57  John  Edward,  56 

59  Maria  Frances,  33,  56 

KING,  Ann  Eliza,  53 
KINSMAN,  Helen  N.,  58 
John, 58 

KIRBY,  Augustus  M.,  64 
KIRK,  May,  62 
Robert  T.,  62 
Sarah,  62 

KNORR,  Vinton  Stuart,  73 
KORBACH,  Henry,  73 

LANE,  Lucy  Rebecca,  53 
LANGLOIS,  C.  A.,  72 
Margaret  Frances,  72 
LEIGH,  Mary,  66 
LINDSLEY,  Mary  Emma,  56 
LOWELL,  Fred,  60 
LUND,  Sophia,  52 

McAULEY,  Catharine  Jane,  72 
McCOY,  Frances  Moale,  64 
James  Espy,  64 
McNAIRY,  John  Calhoun,  56 
MAGOON,  Maria,  52 

MANLY,  Capt. - ,  10 

MERRIAM,  Aaron  Brooks,  66 


Index  of 


62  MERRIAM,  Abbie  Caroline,  5 7 

59  Adeliza  Frances,  57 
Alfred  Brooks,  66 

218  Anna  Louise,  71 

65  Annie  Louise,  57 

35  Artemas,  53 

Benjamin  Wheeler,  30,  33,  38, 

5°.  57 

40  Charles  Ellery,  54 

1 19  Charles  Enoch,  62 

215  Charles  Fred.  Otis,  70 

37  Ebenezer  Hill,  53 

297  Eleanor,  75 

Elisha  Jones,  53 
64  Emma  Rebecca,  57 

220  Ethel  Agnes,  71 

Ezra,  48 

296  Flora  Elizabeth,  75 

294  George  Clement,  75 

41  George  Parker,  54 

219  Harriet  Eleanor,  71 

61  Harriet  Wheeler,  57 

63  Henry  Everett,  57 

293  John  Leander,  75 

Josiah,  20,  33,  48 
1 18  Leander  Otis,  62 

60  Maria  Hill,  57 

36  Polly  Boynton,  53 

216  Raymond  Fogg,  70 

217  Robert  Stanley,  71 
Samuel,  50 
Sarah  Caroline,  53 

39  Sarah  Elizabeth,  54 

120  Sarah  Louise,  62 

66  Sarah  Wheeler,  57 

295  Virginia  Agnes,  75 

38  William  Bancroft,  53 
MILES,  Noah,  32 
MILHOUS,  Holman  C.,  60 

189  Holman  Cannon,  68 

187  John  Philip,  68 

188  Margaret  Hill,  68 
W.  A.,  60 

MILLETT,  Bertha  M.,  63 
Orrin,  63 

MINER,  Emeline  Louise,  62 
George  Rand,  62 
MORRISON,  Amy  H.,  69 

NEELY,  Elizabeth,  48 
NELSON,  Helen  Maria,  58,  59 

233  OAK,  Aimee,  72 
226  Alfred  Henry,  72 

310  Alan  Ben,  76 

Benjamin  Hastings,  54 
308  Dorothy  Marie,  76 

123  Edward  Merriam,  63 
231  Edward,  72 


Persons  81 


307  OAK,  Elinor  Buel,  76 
312  Eugene  Kent,  76 
230  Harold  Lebbeus,  72 

121  Henry  Lebbeus,  62 

229  Irving,  72 

309  Joan, 76 

Lebbeus,  54 

228  Liston  Merriam,  72 

227  Lyndon  Hewitt,  72 

125  Mary  Elizabeth,  63 

124  Ora,  63 

136  Orman,  63 

31 1  Orman  Haskell,  76 

232  Ralph  Lane,  72 

122  Sarah  Adeliza,  63 

265  O’CONNOR,  Elizabeth  Franklin, 

74 

John  A.,  67 

266  Sarah  Patricia  Franklin,  74 
Thomas  H.,  67 

PARKER,  Achsah,  29,  31,  49 
Isaac,  31,  49 
PAYSON,  Seth,  6,  47 
POWERS,  Lillian,  60 
PRATT,  Benanuel,  50 
Betsy,  50 

57  Ebenezer  Hill,  34,  56 

Oliver  Hosmer,  29,  33,  34,  36, 
37.  38>  50 

READ,  Lucretia  Nancy,  61 
REED,  Andrew,  35,  37 
RICHARDSON,  Charles  Parker, 

19 

Jane  Sophronia,  50 
Jonathan,  19 
RIPLEY,  Rose  A.,  54 
William,  54 

ROBBINS, - ,  18 

ROGERS,  Mary  Grafton,  64 
ROSS,  Fred  P.,  63 
RUNKLE,  Eleanor  Winslow,  67 
John  D.,  67 

SAHLER,  Abraham,  57 
Daniel  DuBois,  5 7 

158  Emma  Frances,  66 

159  Florence  Louise,  66 

160  Helen  G.,  67 

157  Henry  Hasbrouck,  66 

SANDISON,  Charlotte  J.,  61 
SAUNDERS,  Sally,  54 
SAUVE,  Edna,  73 
Frank,  73 

SAWYER,  Lura,  72 
SCHWAERER, Catharine  Guest, 
54 

1 12  SCRIPTURE,  Anna  Bertha,  61 


82 


Index  of  Persons 


116  SCRIPTURE,  Arthur  Percy,  62 

Charles,  53 

1 13  Clayton  Orrin,  61 

213  Dorothy  Kirk,  70 

115  Edward  Wheeler,  62 

212  Edward  Wheeler,  Jr.,  70 

211  Elsa,  70 

110  Frank  Percy,  61 

1 14  Fred.  Percy,  62 
George  W.,  53 

hi  Herbert  Everett,  61 

109  Josephine  Maria,  61 

117  Mary  Josephine,  62 
Orrin  Murray,  53 

210  Winifred,  70 

SEAVER,  Minnie  Belle,  60 
SECOR,  Chauncey  Tompkins,  70 
SEWARD,  Eleanor  Wilson,  54 
Robert,  54 

SHOFNER,  Eugene  Forest,  59 

184  James  Newton,  68 

185  Margaret  Hill,  68 

186  Phoebe  Page,  68 
William  L.,  59 

SIMONS,  Abbie  Pollard,  51 
SIMKINS,  John,  73 
SIMPSON,  Charlotte  Helen,  66 
Robert  W.,  66 
SMITH,  Hannah,  54 
STEARNS,  Abigail  (Jones),  16 
Edward,  Jr.,  16,  47 
Edward,  3d,  16,  47 
STEEN,  Ethel,  70 
John,  70 

SWANSON,  Julius,  73 
SWIFT,  Caroline,  64 

TAYLOR,  Catharine  Leigh,  66 
William,  66 

THOMPSON, - ,  11,  36 

TOWLE,  Georgiana,  63 

TOWNE, - ,  21 

TRENT,  Flora,  71 
TUFTS,  George  D.,  54 
Priscilla,  54 

UNDERHILL,  Charles  F.,  71 
Ethel,  71 

VANDEVORT,  Mabel,  71 
Walter,  71 

WARNER,  Catharine,  50 
Ruth,  50 

WEBBER,  Prudence,  53 
WELLS,  Margaret  E.,  61 
WENTWORTH,  Hannah  Ma¬ 
thilda,  66 

WEYERHAEUSER,  Elise,  55 
Frederick,  55 


33  WHEELER,  Abbie  Maria,  53 

92  Addie  Laura,  60 

103  Ann  Maria,  61 

94  Charles  Henry,  60 

89  Clara  Ann,  60 

100  Clarence  Boynton,  61 

25  Ebenezer,  52 
Ebenezer  Boynton,  53 

31  Edward  Boynton,  31 

105  Everett  Dexter,  61 

97  Flora  Annjeanette,  60 

99  Frank  Eddy,  61 

93  Fred  Campbell,  60 

101  Fred.  Dexter,  61 

91  Fred.  Martin,  60 

98  George  Arthur,  61 

96  Harriet  Maria,  60 

107  Henry  Everett,  61 

90  Horace  Boynton,  60 

207  Ines  Elizabeth,  70 

32  Joseph  Bancroft,  53 
Lucy,  50 

208  Marian  Sandison,  70 

27  Mary,  52 

34  Mary  Frances,  53 

203  Maude  Frances,  69 

104  Robert  Chester,  61 

24  Samuel  Hubbard,  38,  52 

Timothy,  20,  48 

28  Timothy,  52 

29  Timothy,  Jr.,  53 

26  William,  52 

30  William,  53 

108  William,  61 

100  William  Boynton,  61 

102  William  Everett,  61 
WHITTEMORE,  Alice  Vaud,  66 

Frederick  H.,  66 
Charles,  56 

154  Charles  Erving,  66 

262  Charles  William,  74 

Dexter,  56 

156  Frances  Maria,  66 

155  William  John,  66 
WHORLEY,  Luella,  68 

William  H.,  68 
WILDE,  Catharine,  49 
193  WILLIAMS,  Hubert  Howard,  69 
John  I.,  60 

197  Oscar  Raymond,  69 

199  Walter  Lee,  69 

WOOD,  James,  Jr.,  20 
WOODBURY,  Charles  Jeptha 
Hill,  19 
J.  Porter,  19 
WRIGHT,  Betsy,  56 
WYETH,  Dorcas,  91 

YOUNG,  Elizabeth,  70 


